


A Lovely Face (Under All That Paint)

by LalaRose27



Series: Same Faces, Different People [1]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Bisexual Toni Topaz, Bisexual Veronica Lodge, Character Death, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Everyone is swapped, F/F, F/M, Friendship, Gang Wars, Gangs, Girl Gang, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Jason Blossom Lives, Lesbian Cheryl Blossom, Past Child Abuse, Recreational Drug Use, Role Reversal, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Teasing, They will have a spinoff, Toni and Cheryl are not here to be the GBF, Veronica Lodge is a Good Friend
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2019-10-24 02:03:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17695508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LalaRose27/pseuds/LalaRose27
Summary: “I could call the cops. I’m sure you’re familiar with being handcuffed.” Sweet Pea says.Veronica raises a brow. “Oh? Is that what you think about? Me? In handcuffs?” She bites her lip. “Pretty kinky for a Northsider.”Sweet Pea turns pink almost instantlyOr:Sweet Pea is Riverdale's golden boy who knows he shouldn't involve himself with Veronica, Vixen Queen of the South Side. But there is something about the raven haired girl he can't shake.





	1. Dark Figures

A dark figure entered Pop’s diner on the rainy Sunday night. It sounds foreboding but Sweet Pea knows that Riverdale has a flair for the dramatic. He thinks it’s to compensate for how boring the town actually is. But Sweet Pea likes boring- it’s comfortable. The less drama in his life, the better. The figure takes his hoodie off to reveal a tall white boy with a beanie on. Sweet Pea can recognize the face but the name escapes him. He was in the newspaper Toni showed him, some scandal Sweet Pea didn’t care for. The stranger walks to Pops asking for his order and makes his way over to Toni and Sweet Pea. 

 

“Hello, I’m Jughead Jones the Third,” Jughead greets with a smile taking in the two teens in front of him. 

 

Sweet Pea must wonder what the two of them look like to him. Toni is a light skinned black girl wearing a cheerleader uniform and her light hair in two pigtails and large doe eyes as if to emphasize her innocent nature rather than the darkness that lurked underneath. Sweet Pea himself is a tall Asian boy with a well built figure and a letterman jacket on with a few old patches ironed on. The old Jughead would have avoided the two of them like the plague and mocked their cliche and childish looks but new Jughead saw them as people who would lead him on the right path. The two looked like the average American high school couple. 

 

“I’m Toni Topaz,” She holds out her hand which Jughead accepted politely. “This is Sweet Pea.”

 

“Really?” Jughead asked as the tall boy nodded.

 

“Well it’s a nickname,” Toni said. “But no one remembers his real name at this point.”

 

“It’s true,” Sweet Pea laughed. “But my real name isn’t as embarrassing as Antoinette.” Toni gasped and slapped his arm. 

 

“Take that back!” She threw her fries at him.

 

Once she started to throw fries Jughead spoke up. “Woah, woah, woah leave the fries out of this!”

 

“Listen to the man,” Sweet Pea laughed popping one of the fries into his mouth. 

 

“Clearly the fries here aren’t that good,” Jughead jokes, “But what about the burgers?”

 

“They’re the best!” Toni gushed. 

 

“Seriously, if the two of us didn’t workout so much we would be big as a balloon.”

 

“Speak for yourself,” Toni said “I’ve got the Topaz metabolism. I’m not gaining weight until I’m at least fifty.”

 

Jughead laughed with them. “Can I sit while I wait or would I be interrupting your date?”

 

Sweet Pea scoffed as he scooted over for Jughead. “You wouldn’t be interrupting anything. We’re just friends.”

 

“Yeah,” Toni said as Jughead sat next to Sweet Pea. “I’m too good looking to be dating someone who looks like Sweet Pea over here.”

 

Sweet Pea mock gasped and threw a fry at her. “Take that back!”

 

Toni caught the fry in her mouth and just smiled slyly. But the door jingled and Toni’s smile faded away. The boys turned around to see another hooded figure, still wet from the rain, enter the diner. Despite the small figure, everyone goes silent in their presence. Jughead leans over and whispers to Sweet Pea.

 

“Who is that?” 

 

No sooner than when the words leave his mouth, the figure takes their hood off to reveal a dark haired Latina girl with blue-purple ends. She turns to them with a wink and a smile.

 

“That’s Ronnie Lodge,” Sweet Pea tells him as his knuckles turn white from balling them up so tight. “She’s the leader of the South Side Vixens.”

 

“You have gangs here?” Jughead asked in disbelief. He couldn’t tell if this town grew more ridiculous or interesting by the moment.

 

“Just on the South Side,” Toni told him. 

 

“There’s like two of them. It’s kind of hard to keep track. The Vixens are like, I don’t know, one part of a gang. Vixens are all girls and usually sell drugs and do petty theft. The Bulldogs are their like, what’s the word?” Sweet Pea searched his brain for the word. “Male counterparts. Drugs and drag racing and whatever. Those two are just the teenagers though. The ones who make it to adulthood are the Wolves. There’s also the Vamps,” Jughead snickered at the name. “They’re less convoluted. It’s just the one group and they do basically the same thing- cause trouble for the rest of us.”

 

Toni nodded to what Sweet Pea was saying, though she was a little hesitant to. “Stay up here and you’ll be fine. They stay in their own territory and we stay on ours. And don’t get so worked up SP, she’s just here for food.”

 

Sweet Pea rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. But Jughead got the message loud and clear- stay away from the South Side and its people.

 

“Jones?” Pops called out from behind the counter.

 

“That’d be me,” Jughead said while standing up. “Nice talking to you two.”

 

“You too, we’ll see you tomorrow yeah?” Toni asked with her doe eyes.

 

“Of course, you two can show me around. Tell me more of the town’s history.” 

 

“Later,” Sweet Pea called after him and Jughead gave him a salute with the hand not holding the food. Sweet Pea looked away from his new friend as walked closer to the Vixen. He had to force himself not to look at Ronnie, who had been staring at him while sipping her milkshake, because he didn’t do bad girls. Especially not gang leaders like Ronnie Lodge. Because as pretty as she is, she’s not worth the trouble.

 

\-----

 

Veronica stared after the tall boy. He was new that was for sure but also looked a bit familiar. She couldn’t put her finger on it. He didn’t look like your usual born and bred Riverdale male. He looked too polished to be from Riverdale. She didn’t think she’d go after him though. She liked the familiarity of the Riverdale-raised boys. She threw a wink at Sweet Pea, who just turned away from her.

 

Her best friend, Cheryl- commonly known as Little Red- chose that moment to walk in. Or rather bump into the new boy and give him a good yelling at before walking in. “Watch where you’re going Blue Blood.”

 

“Be nice to the new kid Red,” Veronica said mockingly as she put her drink down.

 

Unsurprisingly, Cheryl was grumpy and dramatically threw herself on the seat next to hers, her red and purple hair soaked from the rain. “Fucking Northsiders always getting in the way. Why do we have to come here, Ron? The food here is great, I know, but the people?” She looked around dramatically. “We gotta stick to our side of the tracks.”

 

“Oh and Bring It On over there doesn’t do it for you?” Veronica rolled her eyes. Cheryl glanced behind her and grew pink. “We’re only here for your little date.”

 

“Shut up,” She grabbed her strawberry milkshake and began drinking.

 

“Hey no judgement here, Little Red, she’s cute.” Veronica took a quick look at Toni before looking back at Cheryl. “But she’s not my type.”

 

“Please,” Cheryl says rolling her eyes. “ _ I’m  _ the only girl you like.”

 

“Not true,” Veronica says pointing at Cheryl with her onion ring. “I am a sucker for Megan Fox.”

 

“Fine, I’m the only girl you have good taste  _ in.  _ All your other crushes are just sad. That Greendale girl? Pathetic. Valerie? She’d be prettier if she wasn’t a traitor. And I mean, Megan Fox? Really Ronnie? How cliche can you get?”

 

Veronica raised a brow at her friend. “Need I remind you of whom you are currently seeing? The two of you are the plot to every 90s romcom we’ve ever seen.”

 

Cheryl flared her nose but kept drinking. “Speaking of romcoms,” She said in a stiff voice. “Dirty Dancing is playing at the drive-in on Saturday. Come with me.”

 

“Do you even have to ask?” Veronica jokes, bumping her elbow against Cheryl who smiled. It was their favorite movie. Veronica used to watch it all the time when she was little. But then she remembered the girl sitting in the booth and smirked. “Or are you asking so I can third wheel on your date?”

 

“No!” Cheryl protested and laughed. “I mean I’m sure she’ll be there but I’ll watch it with just you. It’ll be our last real girls night before Archie comes back.” Cheryl reminded her with a soft smile.

 

Veronica sat back and sighed. “It feels like forever since we’ve seen him. Six months in the can is a long time.”

 

“Don’t get all mushy on me now, you know the boys are gonna wanna see Fast and Furious every weekend once he comes home.”

 

Veronica made a face. “The only downside to seeing Archie.” She said sadly. “Let’s make next weekend the best girls’ night ever!” Veronica raised her chocolate milkshake. Cheryl clinked hers against Veronica’s. 

 

Then Veronica’s face became serious as she watched Sweet Pea leave. Don’t judge her, the boy has a nice ass. “I don’t mind you leaving me towards the end of the movie to see her- just so long as you don’t leave me alone to wait for you to come out.”

 

“That was one time!” Cheryl protested as the door jingled to a close. 


	2. Solidarity of a Box of Cracker Jacks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two times Veronica and Sweet Pea's paths cross while Toni and Cheryl are hooking up in a bathroom.

It was still light out when football practice ended and Sweet Pea was the last one out the door. Toni needed a ride home and cheerleading practice started later than football. Sweet Pea took advantage by taking longer locker room showers. And since it was unseasonably warm he had sweat a lot. He figured he could wait for Toni in the car while doing homework so he headed out to the parking lot. Before he left the field however he spotted a petite girl on the bleachers. She was bending over, putting a blanket on the seats. As Sweet Pea approached the figure, he noticed how familiar her ass looked in those tiny shorts...

 

“Didn’t expect you to be here,” He said walking towards her. She turned around and leaned against the blanket in a sort of lounge position. The way she was seated made her crop top ride up a bit, exposing a little bit of her sternum tattoo. Her shorts were low waisted so he could see her other tattoos- a fox on her right side with its tail curling around a crescent moon and a snowflake and a wolf on the opposite side with its tail curled around a crescent moon. Sweet Pea wondered how much it hurt- he didn’t think he could ever get a tattoo. It would be too painful. “You know this is Riverdale High property right? You can’t be here.”

 

“Says who? I’m not doing anything wrong, just checking out the school.” Veronica eyes him up and down when she said, ‘checking out’. “Besides you may be a Northsider but you can’t kick me out.”

 

Sweet Pea scoffed. “Please you weigh like seventy pounds soaking wet. I could just throw you over my shoulder, no sweat.”

 

“But you wouldn’t hurt little ol’ me now would you?” Veronica batted her eyes. “You were raised to be a gentleman.”

 

“Only towards the ladies. And you’re hardly a lady.” He gestured to her outfit. “I mean look at you.”

 

Veronica looked at her outfit. The warm weather let her show off a little more skin than what she supposed the jock was used to. She smirked and stuck her chest out a little more. “What wrong with how I look?”

 

Sweet Pea looked away and ran his tongue over his teeth. “Just get out and there won’t be any trouble.”

 

“Or what?” Veronica challenges hearing no real threat in his voice.

 

“I could call the cops. I’m sure you’re familiar with being handcuffed.”

 

Veronica raises a brow. “Oh? Is that what you think about? Me? In handcuffs?” She bites her lip. “Pretty kinky for a Northsider.”

 

Sweet Pea turns pink almost instantly. “What? No- Go-god no.” He sputtered and looked away. “You’re horrible.”

 

“What can I say?” She laughs. “I live to watch you get all flustered like that,” She purred, satisfied with his reaction. 

 

“You like my face?” Sweet Pea shoots back now that he’s recomposed himself. “Now who’s obsessed with who?”

 

“Ronnie!” A voice calls out. The two turn to see Cheryl. “Let’s go!”

 

“Still you,” Veronica tells him collecting her things. She takes a step towards him and lands on the bench in front of him to gain some height on him. She leans towards his ear to whisper, whispering slowly. “And for future reference, you’d be the one in handcuffs all pink and begging to be wrecked.” 

 

And with that she walks past him, joining Cheryl who waves good-bye to the cheerleaders who all glare at the Vixen.

 

“Why do you keep playing with that boy?” Cheryl asks, linking her arm with her friend. Whenever Cheryl leaves Ronnie and Sweet Pea together while she has a rendezvous with Toni, she always comes back to a pink Sweet Pea and smirking Veronica.

 

“I like to play,” Veronica smirked, looking over her shoulder to shoot Sweet Pea a wink. She loves how pink gets.

 

\----

 

The next day, Friday, Toni was gushing on how her favorite movie, Dirty Dancing, was playing at the drive-in and she was trying to convince her friends to come with her. She would say it’s all about spending time with her friends but Sweet Pea knew it was because her grandpa took her car to the garage for the weekend.

 

“We have a movie theater that plays movies you  _ haven’t  _ seen fifty million times,” Sweet Pea says. “And  _ isn’t  _ on the south side of town. Also you  _ work  _ at the movie theater. You have an employee discount.”

 

“Yeah we can go watch Infinity War,” Jughead says.

 

“Okay I’m definitely not watching that,” Fangs says. He cried for hours after watching half his favorite superheroes die before his eyes. Never again.

 

“But it sounds better than Dirty Dancing outside in the cold.” Jughead says. “Toni, isn’t that movie on Netflix anyway?”

“That’s not the  _ point _ . One of the last  _ truly _ American monuments is in our small town and you don’t wanna check it out? We can breath in the fresh air as we munch on popcorn. We can adjust the volume ourselves with a simple turn of the dial or share a blanket with your friends. You can’t possibly tell me you could do any of that back in New York.” Toni argued. 

 

“No what we did do was watch good movies,” Jughead told her as he grabbed a cafeteria tray. 

 

“I agree,” Joaquin piped up. “If they’re playing literally anything else I would go. But it’s Dirty Dancing so...”

 

“You two are lame,” Toni pouted as she loaded a salad onto her tray. “Fangs, SP you in?”

 

“I actually have a good excuse for not going this time. I’ve got tutoring that night.” Fangs said moving down the line.

 

“I’ll forgive you, just this once because I know you won’t study otherwise.” Toni said before setting her sights on Sweet Pea. She stuck out her bottom lip and batted her eyes. “Pweese Sweet Pea, you’re the only one left.” She begged in a baby voice.

 

“Gee how tempting,” He said deadpanned while putting chips onto his tray. “Can’t any of your cheerleader friends come with you?”

 

“No,” Toni scoffed. “C’mon, I’ll pay for your ticket.” She said in a sing-song voice.

 

“Fine,” Sweet Pea said with an eye roll. “But you’re also paying for my popcorn.”

 

Toni nods enthusiastically and hugs him.

 

“Dude, you’re so whipped.” Jughead told him.

 

Sweet Pea shows him his middle finger. “Shut up man.” He could not understand why Jughead was so insistent on getting the two of them together.

 

By the time Saturday night came, Toni was buzzing with excitement. Sweet Pea was surprised she wouldn’t stop smiling from when he picked her up to the end of the film. Sweet Pea would admit, he had fun. Between football and schoolwork, he rarely had time to indulge in things like movies and spend time with friends anymore. But all good things come to an end and that was when Toni insisted on using the bathroom before leaving the theater which left Sweet Pea to go to the car by himself. Surprisingly, his car was not the only one left in the lot. A red car was parked next to his with a small figure leaning against it. As he came closer, the figure turned into the Vixen Queen.

 

Against his better judgement, Sweet Pea approaches her. “What are you still doing here?”

 

Veronica looked up from her popcorn bag and smiled at the tall dream boat. “I’m waiting for my friend, is that such a crime?”

 

Her smoky voice was almost attractive but Sweet Pea shook the thought away. “Well why here?” He gestured to the space next to his car.

 

Veronica normally enjoyed talking to cute guys but she hated the accusatory tone in this one. If she wanted to be grilled by a Northsider, she would have gone further North. Not for the first time, she wished Cheryl would hurry up with her little ‘play date’. “Can’t a girl see a movie? Besides, the rules of the drive-in says that we can park wherever we want. Not like we were making a big fuss over anything.” 

 

She was right. Unlike the rest of her friends, he didn’t hear her at all during the movie. He didn’t even know there were any Vixens watching the movie. “Didn’t think Dirty Dancing would be high on your list of films.”

 

“And it is for you?” Her brow raises and she slowly puts a popcorn into her mouth. He didn’t even know eating  _ popcorn  _ could be seductive. ‘ _ That’s cause it isn’t. She’s not even  _ that _ pretty. _ ’ Sweet Pea tells himself.  _ ‘Girls wearing flannel that shows off her bra and leather shorts can’t be pretty.’ _

  
“My friend dragged me here,” Not that she needs to know but also Sweet Pea loves Dirty Dancing and needed little convincing from Toni to see it.

 

“Well now that you’ve seen it, what do you think?” Veronica let out a dreamy sigh that juxtaposed her reputation. In an equally dreamy voice said, “Cause call me cliche but I love the final dance.”

 

Sweet Pea nodded, “The scene’s alright but I liked it when Baby said, ‘I carried the watermelon.’”

 

Veronica let out a genuine laugh, which made her look softer. Sweet Pea always had known her to be beautiful but in a dangerous sort of way. However now that he’s seen her laugh he sees her as a sort of more classic, traditional beauty. He’s not sure if he likes this new point of view or not. 

 

“That was a funny scene,” Veronica says between laughs. “Guess you do have a sense of humour after all.”

 

“Never said I didn’t,” Sweet Pea smirks.

 

“Could’ve fooled me. Anyway why are you still here?” Veronica asks, despite knowing the answer is identical to hers.

 

“My friend’s in the bathroom,” The two of them looked towards the bathroom as if they were expecting Toni to appear. 

 

“That might take a while,” Veronica held out her popcorn bag. “Want some?”

 

It was a simple question but a dangerous one. Sweet Pea didn’t want to associate himself with a gang leader but it was also just popcorn. A sort of momentary olive branch. It also just hit him that the two of them were having a conversation. Like they were friends or something. 

 

Since Sweet Pea was staring a little longer than necessary, Veronica leaned in with a smirk, “I promise it’s not poisoned.” She told him with a stage whisper.

 

Sweet Pea rolled his eyes and took a handful. “Why are you still here?” He repeated his question from earlier.

 

“I’m also waiting for my friend in the bathroom. She’s got the keys.” Veronica checked her phone for the time and while she did so a message popped up. She gasped at the message. “We should actually be going now.”

 

“Little Miss Badass has a curfew?” Sweet Pea jokes.

 

“Hardly, but I do have an appointment and I stick to them. I’m a badass, not an anarchist.” Veronica said, walking away from him. She swung her hips from side to side as she did so. This, Ronnie Lodge being her dangerously beautiful self with a gorgeous ass, Sweet Pea felt more comfortable with.

 

“I’m sure the police will be thrilled to hear that.” Sweet Pea called after her. Veronica flipped him the bird in response which he laughed at. 

 

“I’m coming in!” Veronica called out as she pushed open the bathroom door. “Please be fully clothed!”

 

Thankfully Veronica was greeted by the sight of her best friend and her lover fully clothed and a foot away from each other. Though if Veronica had to go by how much Toni was blushing and how swollen Cheryl’s lips were she would have thought she caught them naked. Again.

 

“Hi Toni,” Veronica greeted with a smile. “Little Red and I gotta go.”

 

“Can’t it wait?” Cheryl snaps as Veronica pulls her away.

 

“Archie’s back early,” Veronica said softly enough for Cheryl but not Toni to hear.

 

“T.T. I’ll text you tonight okay?” Cheryl said quickly kissing Toni on the cheek. Toni blushed at the affection.

 

“Let’s go!” Cheryl cried running to the car.

 

Sweet Pea watched the two girls jump into their car and speed off. But not without Ronnie Lodge giving him a flirtatious wink.  _ Damn her, _ Sweet Pea thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading, subscribing, and leaving kudos! It would mean the world and faster updates if you leave comments tho! 
> 
> I hope you all love this story and that it's not too obvious that I haven't watched Riverdale since season 1. If so, thank you for sticking around with this garbage story!


	3. Trouble Is My Business

The Cerberus Bar was filled to the brim with people. Which was no surprise to anybody because as soon as word got out people would drop everything to see the prodigal son, Archie Andrews, return. But the crowd did not deter Cheryl who ran through the crowd to hug Archie.

 

“Archiekins!” Cheryl cried in a sugary sweet voice as she jumped into his arms.

 

“Red!” He said hugging back. Veronica pulled Cheryl off and gave Archie a tight hug. Veronica looked over her tall friend. His hair was longer than when he left and he gained some muscle. He looked serious despite his signature easy going smile and Veronica had to wonder how long it will take for him to go back to normal.

 

“Welcome back dude,” When she pulled back she squeezed his tattooed bicep - a sleeve of flames from his neck to his wrist. “Prison treated you well I see. Bet you can lift me over your head without a single sweat now huh?”

  
He pulled her under his arm and rubbed her head. “I could do that before I went in.”

 

“You wish,” Cheryl said coming in for another quick hug.

 

“Andrews!” Reggie shouted holding two beers in his hands. “Looking good my man!”

 

“Not so wimpy anymore,” Jason said, fist-bumping his fellow ginger.

 

“Never was asshole,” Archie responded happily as he accepted the beer from Reggie.

 

“Dude guess what?” Reggie says taking a swig of beer. “I got the drive-in to play one of the greatest movie of all time this weekend.”

 

“No way,” Archie’s eyes went wide as the girls rolled theirs.

 

“Yes way,” Midge said appearing at Reggie’s side with her own bottle. “This asshole did something kind for once and got 2 Fast 2 Furious to play this weekend.”

 

“ _ We _ both did,” Jason added. 

 

“Dude that’s the best thing I’ve heard all day!” Archie gave Jason and Reggie each a bro-hug, nearly knocking down Midge.

 

“Oh I guess I’d better put away your present then, huh?” A deep voice behind him said. Veronica turned to see Fred Andrews, owner and bartender of the Cerberus.

 

“Dad you didn’t have to,” Archie said quietly giving his dad a tight hug. Veronica thinks it might be the lighting but she thinks Archie is crying.

 

“It wasn’t a big deal. I just fixed up your car.” That made Archie hug him tighter which Fred responded in kind. Unlike most parents, Fred was never mad with Archie for going to prison, just disappointed. But he stayed by his son’s side during those long six months and visited him every Wednesday. Veronica longed for a relationship like that with her dad. Alas, being in prison for five years did damage relationships between a parent and child.  

 

“Hey guys,” Veronica’s mom came over out of her work clothes and gave her daughter a side hug. Hermione Lodge was dressed in her Vixen leather jacket, leather pants, and blue shirt with a knot in the front. “Did I miss anything?”

 

“Just Mr. Andrews being the  _ best  _ dad ever!” Reggie called out. Hermione eyed the keys in Archie’s hand. 

 

“You were always the best of us Fred,” She said kindly before turning to Veronica, wagging her finger. “If the same ever happened to you I would beat you with your own shoes and take away your bike.”

 

Veronica gasped. “I would _ never _ do that mother,” Then she smirked. “They’d have to catch me first.”

 

“Atta girl,” Hermione smiled before facing Archie. “So tell me Archie, any stories you’d like to share?”

 

\-----

Mondays were Sweet Pea’s least favorite things. Mostly because of Sunday night’s actions. For whatever reason he dreamt of Ronnie Lodge. He woke up in a cold sweat then went for a run at two in the morning, thinking he would be okay by the time his alarm clock woke him up. He was an idiot. 

 

“Wesley!” His grandmother called. “You’ve got school.”

 

“ _ Lao lao _ ! Ten more minutes!” He called out, burying his face into his pillow.

 

“No, I have to get to work and you have to get to school.”

 

Groaning, Sweet Pea rolls out of bed and drags himself to the bathroom. While brushing his teeth he gets a text from Toni and Fangs.

 

From: Pinky Pie

I need a ride

 

From: Fangs

Me 2

 

To: Pinky Pie

Fine bring me smthg 2 eat

 

From: Fangs

K

 

From: Antoinette ‘Pinky Pie’

Fine

 

He spits out his tooth brush and gets dressed. His grandmother left him some breakfast on the table which he takes a bite of then stuffs the rest in the fridge. He loves his  _ laolao  _ but he doesn't love her cooking when it’s cold. Toni knows witchcraft that keeps her food warm. At the thought of Toni, there is a knock on the door. He can barely make out her high ponytail from behind the door but he knows belongs to her.

 

“What’s up?” he greets as they walk to his car. Fangs is walking down the street and waves hello to them.

 

“Not much, I did have a weird dream last night.” She responds and the three of them talk about their dreams on the way to school. Toni had a dream about being in Hogwarts where all the teachers were dragons wearing flower shaped pasties and curtains while Fangs talked about his dream of tacos dancing to Katy Perry songs and the oranges twerking off beat.

 

When they arrive at Riverdale High, home of the Riverdale Dragons, they are greeted by a terrible sight. The windows had been broken and black spray paint covered the building. Broken glass is all over the parking lot and white spray paint is in almost every parking space. Sweet Pea’s spot has a large penis spray painted on it which he prefers over having broken glass- but just barely.

 

“No way,” Fangs said as the trio got out of the car.

 

The inside was better, if only by a bit. The girls’ bathroom on the first floor only had one working toilet and on the second floor boys’ bathroom there was only one unbroken sink. One hallway had broken glass all over the ground and dented lockers but that was about it. On the downside, Toni and Sweet Pea’s lockers are among the damaged ones. 

 

“Must have been those fucking Southsiders,” Sweet Pea swears, remembering Veronica’s strange exit. Fangs nods in agreement.

 

“I can’t believe they would do something so horrible.” Toni says in a whisper. “Why would they do this?”

 

“Cause it’s in their blood,” Sweet Pea remembers the way Ronnie Lodge talked about an appointment, all secretive and stuff. Was this really what she was doing with her time?

 

“There has to be a reason,” Toni insisted. “I’ve gotta talk to a teacher or someone.”

 

Toni left and Sweet Pea inspected his locker. Whatever the Bulldogs and Vixens used to bash his locker damaged his lock. He slammed his forehead against the locker. He was gonna be late to class.

 

As the long week went on, Sweet Pea got more agitated in school. His teachers weren’t accepting the fact he had a damaged locker as a reason why he didn’t do his homework and the school even charged him money to  _ fix  _ the damn thing. (“Where are my taxes going?” His  _ laolao  _ cried when she saw the bill.) To the school’s credit, they were able to start repairing damages sooner rather than later. But that meant enduring the sounds of drills during his chemistry test and failing said test. 

 

Toni was off playing detective and devil’s advocate with Joaquin which left Sweet Pea to hang around Jughead and Fangs. Toni wasn’t having much luck proving the south side’s innocence as later that day the school board found two missing computers from the computer lab. 

 

“They need to be made an example of,” Jughead said while eating his leftovers from Pops. The new kid had been eating food from Pop’s everyday since he arrived, Sweet Pea guessed his family wasn’t used to cooking for themselves.

 

“Like how?” Fangs asked.

 

“We gotta find whoever did this and make them pay.”

 

“Calm down dude,” Fangs said, a little disturbed. “We don’t even know who did it.”

 

“It was those Bulldogs.” Sweet Pea says stubbornly.

 

“Why though?” Jughead asked thoughtfully.

 

“Maybe they heard about the plans to put our schools together?” Fangs said while tossing the tomato out of his sandwich. 

 

Sweet Pea choked and coughed. “They’re doing what?”

 

“Didn’t you guys get the newsletter?” The other two boys shook their heads. “Well it’s not official but the board was thinking about letting some Southside students come here. The education down there sucks.” 

 

Sweet Pea had to agree. When he met his half brother for the first time, he remembered overhearing their parents talk about the poor education he was going to get. His dad refused to listen to what his ex, Melinda, was and put his foot down when asked to take in Sweet Pea’s half brother. Though, looking back on it Sweet Pea’s mom would have been the one calling the shots on that one. 

 

Against his will, Sweet Pea’s mind went to a happier thought. The thought being Ronnie Lodge in a cheerleader uniform. In the school colors. Her tiny frame swallowed by his letterman jacket. Maybe she could become a cheerleader when she transferred. The thought was both hilarious and arousing at the same time. Damn her.

 

“Then they should be glad to be coming here, why damage that?” Sweet Pea said.

 

“Maybe it was a kid who didn’t get in, I don’t know. I’m just the messenger dude.”

 

“We can’t let them into our school. Not when they’re doing this.” Sweet Pea said and no one dared to argue against him.

 

\-----

 

The next weekend was movie night, the first one Archie since coming back. The girls were dreading it while the boys were screaming their heads off in excitement.

 

“You’re lucky I like you Andrews,” Veronica said, glaring from her seat in the car. She was currently sitting on Jason’s lap in the back seat. Midge, Cheryl, and Kevin were also there. “Or I’d make you skip the movie and have you run errands for me.”

 

“Aww quit being a buzzkill Ronnie,” Reggie said from the driver’s seat as the car slowed down. “He needs something special to celebrate.”

 

“And just cause it’s not one of those old movies you like, doesn’t mean it’s not a masterpiece.” Jason joined in as Midge nodded in agreement. Veronica playfully hits them both.

 

Cheryl rolled her eyes at her wombmate as the car slows to a stop. “I hardly think this counts as a masterpiece, J.J.” She snarks opening the door. 

 

“Agree to disagree,” Archie called out as he started getting the chairs out of the trunk. “The Fast and Furious franchise is one of the greatest movie franchises of our generation. In this essay I will-”

 

“You’ve already caught him up on memes?” Veronica groaned as Midge gave Archie a high-five.

 

“I was gone six months, not six years.” Archie as he put his chair next to Veronica’s.

 

“And what a lonely and miserable six months it was,” Veronica said holding his hand and giving him a cheesy smile. He kisses her hand, then sloppily licks it. Veronica laughs and slaps him. In the corner of her eye she saw the trademark letterman jackets of the Riverdale football team.

 

“Boo!” Kevin and Cheryl threw their popcorn at them. “Stop that you filthy heteroes, there are children present.”

 

“There are kids here?” Veronica groaned and stood up. “No wonder the youth of America is doomed to fail.” The boys threw more popcorn at her. “Also don’t call me ‘hetero’ that is erasure. I’m grabbing an extra soda, what’d you guys want?”

 

“Cherry coke and twizzlers,” Cheryl told her, munching on her twizzler.

 

“Popcorn would be great babe,” Jason says blowing her a kiss. Veronica slaps the imaginary kiss down and crushes it beneath her boot. 

 

Jason lets out a dramatic gasp and turns his head toward the sky, screaming “Why?”

 

Cheryl rolls her eyes at the two. Ever since Veronica and Jason found out that Cheryl wants them to be together (“We can finally be sisters for real!” Cheryl said.) the two of them acted extra couple-y that to annoy the girl.

 

“Yeah just get like four giant bowls,” Reggie told her, using his hands to mimic a giant bowl.

 

“God you people are pigs,” Veronica said walking away. “Pay me back tomorrow!”

 

The line for the concession stand was already fairly long. Pretty short for a Friday but long enough for Veronica to get impatient. Until she spotted a familiar letterman jacket and dark hair. She cut through the line, ignoring people’s protests which she countered by slipping a hand into their pockets, and tapped on his shoulder.

 

“Fancy seeing you here stranger,” Veronica said. Sweet Pea turned to look down at the small girl.

 

“You again,” He sighed. Veronica was confused- not the reaction she was expecting.

 

“What’s with the cold shoulder?” We really bonded last time.” She said as they moved forward.

 

“We ate popcorn while our friends were in the bathroom, I’d hardly call it a bonding moment.”

 

“Ouch, that really hurt.” Veronica put her hand over her heart and Sweet Pea tried not to noticed how it made her breast bounce. He snaps his head to the front, thinking of the red head he saw her with.  _ ‘She has a boyfriend!’  _ He thinks to himself. ‘ _ Not only that but she’s in a gang that vandalized your school!  _ She smiled when she saw his eyes jump back up to hers. “But I’ll let you make it up to me. Buy me a soda.” She put her hands behind her back and swayed back and forth, fluttering her eyes like a maiden.

 

“You’re not as cute as you think you are.” He lied. He shouldn’t be eyeing up someone’s girlfriend, especially if that girl is from the South Side.

 

“Okay, now you’ve really wounded me,” Veronica eyes him up and down. “Or at least you would have if I didn’t know you were lying.”

 

“Still not cute,” He walked forward in line.

 

Veronica holds her hands up. “Fine, don’t buy me a drink. Just say sorry like the gentleman I know you were raised to be.”

 

“I was also not raised to lie.”

 

“Wow,” Veronica almost looks impressed. “You are sassy today.”

 

“Why are you here anyway? Don’t you have some school to vandalize?” He spat out, moving forward.

 

“Why would I bother with your school when I’ve got my own?” Veronica answered taking out her wallet. “Especially when it comes to vandalism. That isn’t really my forte.”

 

Sweet Pea scoffed and Veronica looked at him. 

 

“Can you tell me what I’m being punished for? Cause I honestly don’t know what the cold shoulder is for.”

 

“My school.”

 

“What would I want with your school?” Veronica would say her own crumbling school left much to be desired and that those desires would be best fulfilled by Riverdale High. But she’s had so many memories in her school halls. It’s been a huge part of her life at this point, she didn’t know if she could bear to let it go. 

 

“Quit playing around,” Sweet Pea faced her. “I know it was you that messed with my school. Just stick to causing havoc on your side of the tracks.” 

Veronica’s fist balled up and her face went hard. “I never messed with your school. I don’t go on Northsider property, and I was busy the entire week dealing with my own shit. Why are you accusing me?”

 

Sweet Pea was silent. He didn’t know why he was accusing her of anything.

 

“What evidence do you have that makes you think I did it? You don’t even know if it was me,” Veronica was well aware she was making a scene but she was on a roll and knew that she had Sweet Pea in a corner. “ And if I  _ was  _ involved, don’t you think the police would have dealt with me already?” 

 

Veronica went to the counter and ordered her food. Once she got it, she only spared one miserable glance to Sweet Pea, whose face was red with anger and embarrassment. “And I was really hoping we’d be friends.”

 

Against his better judgement, Sweet Pea spat out. “I would  _ never _ be friends with someone in a gang.” 

 

Veronica put her the popcorn and twizzler on the counter and threw her soda in Sweet Pea’s face. The shock of the cold soda was followed by the shock of a slap across the face.

 

“Don’t  _ ever _ talk about things you don’t know about.” Sweet Pea may be staring down at the girl but her glare made him feel small. “And  _ don’t  _ talk about my friends like that.” She grabbed her food and left. 

 

The movie was in the middle of another drag race which the boys were cheering for as Veronica passed the food around. She sat next to Cheryl.

 

“Hey Red,” She whispered as she sat down. “Don’t hook up with Miss Perfect tonight.”

 

“Why not?” 

 

“That friend of hers pissed me off.” Veronica crossed her arms. “He was talking shit about you guys. I had to throw your soda at him.”

 

Cheryl looked at Veronica with a fire in her eyes but Veronica spoke up before she could do anything. “Don’t tell Baddie or any of the boys.” Baddie was their nickname for Jason. He was the Bad Wolf and Cheryl was Little Red Riding Hood. “They can’t get sent away  _ the week  _ Archie got released. Just make sure that girl of yours knows why you’re not gonna hand out with her so she can give that guy hell. Hope you’ve been good enough to that girl for her to be mad about it.”

 

Cheryl gives her a look that says, ‘ _ of course I have,’ _ but whips out her phone anyway. Veronica sits back and tries to relax and watch the movie. But when her eyes can’t help but drift to the tall boy dripping with soda, there is a fire that is lit inside her.

 

\-----

 

Over the next week both sides of the tracks were feeling the tension brew in their respective friend groups. Cheryl was upset but refused to tell anyone why so she was just boiling in her own hatred. No one knew why Toni was glaring holes into Sweet Pea but they did fear for the day he would burst into flames. She didn’t tell anyone why she was doing angry with him and the lack of context made it hard for anyone to ‘choose a side’. It made each morning awkward because Toni would be glaring at Sweet Pea from her porch when he left the house. Her anger only got worse on Thursday. The culprit, some juniors from West Riverdale High, was revealed to have vandalized the school. 

 

“Yo, did you guys hear?” Fangs rang up to the group’s lunch table, his bag slipping from his shoulder.

 

“What?” Jughead asks, mouth full of his leftover burger.

 

“They caught the person who vandalized the school.” Fangs said, sitting down. That caught everyone’s attention and they all looked at him with interest. “It was a bunch of juniors from West Riverdale. Bunch of the football players wanted a head start on the rivalry.”

 

“Those assholes,” Sweet Pea cursed. He was already trying to form a plan to get back at them. Those Ghoulies would have to pay for messing with the school.

 

“It wasn’t the Southside?” Toni asks, confused.

 

“I heard it was all West Riverdale. They must’ve bribed a janitor or something to get in.” Fangs replied between sips of his juice.

 

Toni put her head in her hands. “Oh my gosh,” She said, barely above a whisper.

 

“T? What’s wrong?” Sweet Pea asks her. Toni turns to see his concerned face and her face grows cold.

 

“Come with me,” She says as equally as cold, standing up. Confused, Sweet Pea obeys and follows Toni into an empty classroom. He leans against the teacher’s desk and she angrily closes the door behind them. On any other occasion, Sweet Pea would crack a joke about the two of them hooking up but he values his life and knows it’s neither the time nor place.

 

Toni takes a deep breath and looks him in the eye for the first time in a week. She still looks angry but also scared. “Sweet Pea, I’m going to tell you something and I want you to be quiet when I tell you.” She takes a deep breath before continuing. “I am dating a Southside Vixen.”

 

Sweet Pea’s jaw drops but Toni stops him before he can say a word. “Let me finish. You know I’m bi so dating a girl isn’t the issue. It’s where she’s from that’s the problem. But I will have you know that Cheryl is the wittiest, smartest, and sweetest girl- hell, person- I’ve ever met. She’s been through a lot, more than anything I’ll ever go through and I love her for how brave she is. She makes me laugh, she makes me smile, and I let my guard down around her.” Toni’s voice started to shake but she continued talking anyway. 

 

“Yet, we kept our entire relationship a secret because I knew how everyone would react- but your reaction was the one I feared the most. We have been best friends since birth and I knew you would hate me- you wouldn’t mean to but you would- and I wouldn’t be able to take it. So we were happy sneaking around like freaking Romeo and Juliet. We were happy. Then  _ you  _ had to screw all of that up with your freaking prejudice! I know your dad is a piece of shit who threw away his family for one night with some Vixen but that cannot be your excuse anymore. You cannot blame an entire neighborhood for your bigotry Pea! They can’t be blamed for every bad thing that happens in Riverdale! Because of that I let your words get into my head and possibly lost the love of my life.” Tears were falling as she angrily yelled at him. Sweet Pea, who was frozen in shock during her whole speech finally walked towards her and hugged his best friend. “I know love of my life is dramatic but good God can’t I have something? Someone?” She sobbed into his shirt but refused to hug him “I think I love her Pea, and I don’t think she even likes me anymore.”

 

Sweet Pea pressed Toni’s head into his chest, not caring his shirt was getting wet from her tears. He fucked up big time. Toni is like a little sister to him and he hurt her. He rubbed her back and let her cry. 

 

“I fucked up big time,” Sweet Pea told her, once her sobbing quieted down. “I know that now. But if you’ll let me, I’ll make it up to you. Please let me make it up to you T.”

 

There was a long pause before Toni finally answered. “Fine.”

 

He let her hold onto him for a good five more minutes before pulling away. Her eyes were pink and puffy but she looked relieved. Sweet Pea couldn’t believe he didn’t see how stressed out she was before. He needed to be a better friend to her. 

 

The two of them walked out of the room and he walked in the opposite direction of her. 

 

“Where you going?” Toni asks. “Math is this way.”

 

“I’m making my best friend happy again.” He says, walking backwards. 

 

Toni’s eyes widened. “But you’ve never skipped class a day in your life.”

 

“Well, my best friend’s happiness is something that can’t be delayed.” Toni laughed at that. Sweet Pea can’t believe how much he missed her laugh. “Just tell Fangs I can’t give him a ride home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentines lovelies. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a comment so I can update faster. Especially if your comment is constructive. See y'all later!


	4. Prizes in Cracker Jack Boxes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apologies all around from all sides of the tracks

In retrospect, Sweet Pea should have come up with a plan. Or rather a plan that was better than ‘find Ronnie Lodge the Vixen and apologize’. He has no idea who Cheryl is much less how to find her. Finding her leader was going to be his best bet. If he found her and she didn’t cut his tongue out of course. He drove around town, hoping that for the slight chance that Ronnie was on his side of town. He was willing to go to the Southside and possibly get mugged for Toni, but he was gonna make that his last resort. As luck would have it, he spotted a familiar motorcycle parked in Pop’s parking lot. Parking next to it, he took a deep breath and walked inside.

 

When he saw her, she was leaning over the counter talking to a waitress. Sweet Pea will admit he has an appreciation for the female form. Specifically their asses. He appreciates a good ass. Even if that ass belongs to one Ronnie Lodge. Her hated her but her ass was pretty nice. Especially in that black denim romper of hers. That red headed boyfriend of hers is a lucky guy. He took one last look before announcing his presence.

 

“Hi,” He said and Veronica turned around. Her and the waitress’s brows were raised and looking unimpressed. Sweet Pea realized this must be her mom.

 

“Can I help you?” Veronica asked icily.

 

“Can we talk? Alone?” He asked gesturing to the waitress.

 

Veronica said something to the waitress, in Spanish, who responded also in Spanish before she went away. The waitress was glaring at Sweet Pea the whole time as she left though. She sent shivers down Sweet Pea’s spine.

 

“Talk. You have ten seconds.” Veronica said with her arms crossed.

 

“I came to apologize. What I did was completely uncalled for and you and your friends didn’t deserve the blame.” Veronica didn’t say anything so he continued. “It was actually some junior’s fault. He’s always been a problem so I should have thought of him first. You guys have always stuck to your side of the tracks so I never should have blamed you. You’re pretty cool.” he finished lamely.

 

Veronica raised a brow and pursed her lips. For a few excruciating minutes she did not respond. She stared the taller boy down and his eyes shifted to the waitress behind the counter, who was still glaring at him. He felt the wrath of two Lodge women and didn’t know if he would make it to see tomorrow.

 

“My side of the tracks?” Veronica wanted him to grovel.

 

“I mean, you have never caused trouble uh here.” Sweet Pea quickly said. “You always seem honest with what you do so it doesn’t seem- I mean you guys don’t.” He liked his lips and took a deep breath before starting again. “You seem like a respectable kind of gal and wouldn’t do anything crazy. You’ll stick to what you know, you know?” His voice was shaking because of his nerves. He really should have practiced what he was going to say before he got here. 

 

Veronica stayed silent as he thought over his words. Sweet Pea could feel himself sweating but still remained eye contact with the small Vixen.

 

Veronica knew she had to forgive him. She didn’t want to but she valued her gang more than her pride. The Monday following Veronica’s orders to ban Cheryl from seeing Toni that night, Southside High parted like the Red Sea for the storm known as Cheryl Blossom. Tuesday, Jason sported a dark bruise on his face in the shape of Cheryl’s history textbook. (“All I asked was if she had a date,” Jason said when asked.) Wednesday night, the Vixens took Cheryl to Cerberus for some cheering up. Cheryl spent most of her time drinking, sharpening her blade and scaring customers away, much to Fred’s dismay. On Thursday, Reggie actually felt bad enough for the freshmen Cheryl tore to pieces that he bought all of them lunch. Which brought Veronica to Pop’s. In all honesty, she was tired of healing the victims of Cheryl’s verbal lacerations and feeling guilty that she caused all this to begin with. She needed to ask her mom what to do before she could see Cheryl at their shift at the Cerberus.

 

“Your apology could use some work but I’ll accept it. I know it’s hard for you people to do that so… you’re forgiven.” She said, starting strong but finishing as equally as lame as Sweet Pea had. In all honesty, Veronica wasn’t expecting an apology from him at all. Once her anger receded her silence was born out of shock rather than judgement.

 

“Thanks,” Sweet Pea said, unsure what she meant by ‘you people’. Veronica raised her palm to stop him.

 

“But before I forgive you entirely, you gotta buy me a drink first.” Veronica waved her hand to get her mom’s attention. “A chocolate shake please.”

 

“Coming up,” Hermione smiled at Veronica and glared at Sweet Pea. 

 

“Can you make that two?” Sweet Pea called out. Veronica raises her brow. 

 

“You always struck me as a vanilla kind of guy,” Veronica said. 

 

“Isn’t life full of surprises?” He said sitting down. Is that a joke she heard?

 

“Does this mean we’re friends now?” She asked leaning against the counter.

 

“God no,” He said, if a little awkwardly, and Veronica fake gasped and flipped him the bird. All the coolness she remembered from popcorn sharing was gone. Veronica was curious as to why.

 

“So why’d those guys wreck your whole school?”

 

“I don’t know,” Sweet Pea shrugged. “It’s tradition to mess with your rivals but these guys took it way too far.”

 

“So you think they’d fit in with us,” Veronica jokes.

 

“No! No, they have no teamwork skills at all. You’d kick all of them out before the end of the day.” Veronica counted another strike against him. Even though he’s insulting his school rival, he sounds almost… soft when he says it. Like he cares about them. He’s nothing like the boys on her side of the tracks. His softness is refreshing but she knew it would get him killed if they kept hanging out. Wait- hanging out? Where is her mind taking her? She’s just reading too much into this. She should really stop flirting with him, it’s making her feel funny in the brain. Sweet Pea is literally just stating his opinion. 

 

“True,” Veronica said taking her milkshake from her mom. “I have high standard on who gets into my social circle.” 

 

If she wasn’t paying such close attention to his face she wouldn’t have noticed how Sweet Pea flinches at the words. Suddenly it clicks into place.“Speaking of social circles,” Veronica says slowly. “That rival team isn’t the only reason why you came to apologize is it?”

 

“What do you mean?” He asks, a little confused.

 

Veronica’s voice lowers. “You found out about your little friend and my friend didn’t you?”

 

Sweet Pea’s voice lowers as well. He’s not at all surprised that she knows. If she could figure out why he’s here, nothing must get past her. “She told me before I came here. I… don’t like it when my friends are sad. I came here to apologize, I truly did everything I said and thought was completely unfair, but I needed you to forgive me so the two of them can get together again.”

 

Veronica nods. “I only told Red not to see her the night of the drive in, I didn’t know they’d fight over it.”

 

“I take full responsibility but can you just, I don’t know, talk to her? Tell her it’s okay? I really didn’t come here with a plan.” Sweet Pea admits.

 

Veronica lets out a soft laugh. “I’ll talk to Red but that’s as much as I can do.” She reaches into her pocket. “Here, give me your number. I can keep you updated on the two of them and when they make up we can talk.”

 

Sweet Pea takes the phone and adds it to her contact list. “Text me tonight so I know how to get Toni to talk to her.”

 

When he hands her her phone back, Veronica lets out another laugh. “I think we’re becoming friends.”

 

“Acquaintances at best.” Sweet Pea scoffs. 

 

“Okay, Sweet Pea, whatever helps you sleep at night. Don’t forget to tip the waitress.” 

 

He throws a twenty on the counter and walks out the door. Veronica doesn’t stop smiling until he drives out of the parking lot.

 

“Are you getting starry eyed over a Northside boy?” Her mom’s teasing voice says behind her.

 

“I’m just playing with him. And I need to deal with the mess Red’s been making.”

 

“Does that mean she’ll finally stop going through all our cereal?”

 

Veronica scoffs. “Mom, she did that before I ruined her love life.”

 

\----

 

Cheryl didn’t show up for her shift at Cerberus that night nor did she respond to any texts so Veronica had wait for Friday morning to come.

 

On Friday Cheryl was still wreaking havoc in the form making two Vamps- Ginger Lopez and Tina Patel- cry and tell their boyfriends who would have beat Cheryl had it not have been for Jason kicking both their asses. Veronica took a deep breath and counted to ten when she heard the news. Since they didn’t have any classes together, Veronica has to settle for cornering her in the parking lot after school.

 

“Hey Red? Just wanna say I’m sorry, if I knew you liked this chick- like  _ really  _ liked her- and that it’d get this bad I never would have told you to not see her.” Veronica said sincerely as she started her motorcycle.

 

“Not your fault, she made things worse when she defended herself.” Cheryl tried to sound nonchalant as she put on her helmet but Veronica could hear sadness in her voice. Even Jason noticed it. “What’s done is done. We needed a cooling off period anyway.”

 

Once the twins rode home, Veronica made an executive decision to deal with the matter herself. She called her mom, telling her that she’d cover her shifts at Pop’s while she could take on extra shifts at Cerberus. Afterwards she texted Sweet Pea to bring Toni to Pop’s. Veronica skipped her last two periods to go to Pop’s. She dressed like a good Northsider- she wore her vintage pearl necklace that was probably fake, a barette, her hair in a neat bun that hid her colored tips. There was no sign of dark makeup or tattoos or any other sign that she was a born and bred South Side Vixen. She looked like a born and bred Northsider.

 

Her shift was slow when she started, the benefits of working when everyone was still at school or at work. But once the clock counted down to when school ended, Veronica held her breath and waited for Toni. Lucky for her, Sweet Pea texted her he and Toni were coming after practice. He bribed Toni with the promise of whatever she wanted from Pop’s. Toni accepted with little hesitation. Earlier Sweet Pea had texted Veronica that they would get to Pop’s around five so Veronica texted Cheryl to meet her at five thirty. Around four the Riverdale High teens walked in. Toni was in in her usual cheerleading practice outfit only a bit messier. Her hair was in a lazy ponytail on top of her head and she wore a tired expression. Her friends followed in behind her. Once they got settled Veronica came over with a sweet smile on her face.

 

“Hi, welcome to Pop’s! I’m Ronnie and I’ll be your waitress.” She said in a perky voice. It was what she dubbed her ‘Rich White Girl voice’ in her head.

 

Sweet Pea didn’t think he had ever seen her in anything other than her usual black and purple leather ensemble. He couldn’t see her purple tips that she hid inside the bun at the nape of her neck. To Sweet Pea’s untrained eye she only wore a clear lip gloss, a contrast to her usual dark makeup. Though the yellow uniform dress was a rather garish outfit, she managed to pull it off nicely. It was still an ugly dress but on her it was slightly better looking. Only slightly. Maybe because she added a pearl necklace. It gave her appearance a certain sweetness. It was way to bizarre to see her like this.  _ ‘Does she look good like this or would I like to see her in leather?’  _ Sweet Pea blushed at the awkward phrasing in his head.  _ ‘No, wait-’ _

 

The Northsiders stared at her a little longer than necessary before realizing that what they were doing was rude. “Right, hi, um I’ll have my usual then,” Fangs spoke up.

 

“A strawberry milkshake and some pancakes,” Toni said, eyes still wide.

 

“Just a burger.” Sweet Pea and Jughead say at the same time.

 

“Great, anything else just call me,” Veronica said perkily and gave their orders to the cook. At that moment, Cheryl entered the choc’lit shoppe with Jason behind her. They sat in the booth at the opposite end of the Northsiders. Neither side dared to look in the other’s direction. Veronica took the twins’ orders as well and told Cheryl to go to the bathroom. While waiting for the everyone's’ orders she wrote a short note on a napkin. It said, “Red’s in the bathroom, she misses you even if she won’t admit it.” The milkshakes were finished first and Veronica gave it to Toni with a smile.

 

“Enjoy,” She said, slipping the napkin onto the cheerleader’s lap. When Veronica went back behind the counter she watched Toni read the note. Her eyes widened just the tiniest bit and excused herself from the table. 

 

“Here you guys go,” Veronica says, handing out their meals. She hands Sweet Pea his meal last, looking him in the eye a little bit longer than necessary. When she realizes this, Veronica gestures toward the bathrooms and Sweet Pea excuses himself from the table as well. The two of them press their ears against the bathroom door. A man walking out of the men’s bathroom gives them an odd look as he walks past the two but they pay him no mind.

 

“Can you hear anything?” Veronica asks.

 

“A little bit. Sounds like a conversation so that’s good.” Sweet Pea says, his ears straining a bit. A little bit later, there is the sound of something clattering on the ground.

 

Sweet Pea pulls away and looks down at Veronica, whose ear is still against the door. “Are they fighting?” He asks a little worried.

 

“No,” Veronica says slowly. “I know what Red sounds like when she fights.”

 

Suddenly there is a moan. It’s loud enough that only the two eavesdroppers can hear it. But even if only the two of them were the only ones that heard, it’s awkward enough that they can pull away.

 

“They’ve made up,” Veronica says, thankful. Sweet Pea on the other hand is pink. Veronica likes that he gets pink easily and promises herself to see what else turns him pink.

 

“Hey,” He grabs her wrist before she can walk away. “I just wanna say thanks. For this.” He gestures to the door.

 

“No problem.” Veronica responds, feeling her cheeks pinkens like a child.

 

A while later, once the two have left the bathroom, Sweet Pea is sitting in the booth and Veronica is behind the counter like they’ve been there the whole time. Not that the couple notices as they both come back in with blissful smiles. 

 

“What’s with the smile?” Jughead asks once Toni is settled.

 

“My Grandpa is… Letting me stay out a little longer tonight.” Toni lied. Veronica rolled her eyes. She’s lucky Cheryl loves her or Veronica would expose her on the spot.

 

“Don’t you always stay out anyways?” Jughead asked.

 

“Yeah but this time I won’t be punished for it,” She said as she cuts her pancakes. “Wow thanks Ronnie! Thanks for everything actually, it looks delicious.”

 

“No problem,” Veronica left, her swaying hips catching Sweet Pea’s attention. Fangs starting making kissing noises and Jughead joined in the teasing as well.

 

“Oh Sweet Pea,” Jughead said in a high pitched voice as he placed his hand on Fangs’s shoulder, batting his eyelashes. “You’re so cute and muscular, wanna share a milkshake?”

 

“Shut up,” Sweet Pea said, stuffing his burger into his mouth.

 

“Oh of course Ronnie,” Fangs mimics Sweet Pea’s voice as he reaches for Sweet Pea’s fries. “Do you wanna share my fries too?”

 

Sweet Pea pulls his fries close to his chest. “I’m not sharing my fries with anyone,” He says, licking his fries. “I’ve licked it so now it’s mine.”

 

“I’m sure you’d like to lick her,” Toni says before drinking her milkshake. Fangs and Jughead let out a chorus of ‘ohs’ and Sweet Pea throws his napkin at them.

 

When they were done eating, the group left a nice tip on the counter for Veronica’s excellent service. Veronica changed out of her uniform, let her hair loose, and back in her comfortable Vixen skin. As she walked to her motorcycle, Cheryl calls her from her phone.

 

“Hey Red, did you get the present I gave you?” She greets.

 

“Ronnie you little bitch,” Cheryl says happiness evident in her voice. Veronica laughed in response. “You didn’t hear it from me but I’m glad you meddled for once.”

 

“I didn’t do it for you,” Veronica protested. “I did it for the good of the gang and the school.”

 

“Right,” Cheryl says with a smile. “I’ll save you a drink for your contributions to the gang then.”

 

“I’m on my way,” Veronica said driving out of Pop’s and to Cerberus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! Don't forget to leave a comment even if it's something simple like 'extra kudos'! I hope this didn't feel super rushed and sloppy because I had to re-edit this chapter a lot. I hope the end product was worth it though. 
> 
> The next chapter needs to undergo a lot of editing so it'll probably be updated a little later than usual, hopefully no later than Saturday night though. I wanna include some jealous Sweet Pea and some more flirty Veronica and more Choni like some people requested (if you request something in the comments, I'll probably put it in the fic). I'm gonna publish the companion Choni fic in hopefully two weeks so be on the look out for that. 
> 
> Anyway, thank you for everything lovely readers!


	5. 4,000 Irregular Verbs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gang politics, grandmothers, parties, and the Spellman Family Oh My!
> 
> OR:
> 
> Buckle up this is a long chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No jealous Sweet Pea in this I'm sorry! When I went over edits it realized this chapter was way longer than intended so I've split it in half. He'll be in the next one.

The next morning Veronica was awakened by her mom kicking her awake and reminding her about the meeting. Her and Cheryl- who spends most of her time in the Lodge household than in her shared apartment with her brother- groan but get up when Hermione threatens to slash the wheels of their tires. 

 

“Mom, why the fuck are we here so early?” Veronica complains as she pushes open the doors to Cerberus. Cheryl let out a snort. She heard Veronica talking in her sleep about a certain dark haired Northsider and knew she wanted to go back to that dreamland. 

 

“Both of you watch it!” Hermione snapped slapping both of them on the arm. The three of them took a seat at the bar. Or in the case of the two teens, a seat on the counter. Once the whole gang was in the bar, Fred began the meeting.

 

“We need to talk about the Vamps,” Fred spoke said. Everyone’s backs straightened and Veronica could see the Blossom twins look at each other. She put her hand on Cheryl’s knee and rubbed circles to calm her down. 

 

The Vamps are their rival gang and despite their rather cheesy name were not a force to be fucked with. Much like the Wolves, their main trade was drugs. They dabbled in other fields like sex work and car theft but they mainly stuck to drugs. They were originally from Riverdale but left for Central City, the next town over, because the profits were better there. However, the Vamps still wanted their old territory, which was now Wolf property. They fought dirty to get it back and succeeded before quickly getting overthrown. The last big fight was less than a year ago and Veronica’s scar never healed properly. Lucky for Veronica, her father found out and killed the asshole the night he got into prison. The action was sort of nice, her dad never got to kill the man who got him arrested but killed the man who messed with his daughter. 

 

“We caught one of them scouting our turf. I think they’re planning something.”

 

“You didn’t get any info out of them?” Sierra McCoy asked. Fred shook his head. 

 

“Well let’s teach them a lesson first,” Veronica says angrily jumping off the counter. Hermione held her back.

 

“We’re not gonna do anything yet. We don’t have all the facts yet.” Fred told her.

 

“So we wait until one of us is in the hospital? Or dead?” Veronica snaps, looking at Archie. He went to prison because he was caught stealing some Vamp drugs. When he got to prison a few Vamps welcomed him in with beatings the whole first week. When she and the Blossoms went to visit him his face was blue and green. To see her best friend in such a state broke her heart. 

 

“We need to strike first!” Cheryl agreed. Jason nodded next to her. 

 

“I never said we were just gonna sit around twiddling our thumbs,” Fred told her, tired of the insolence. She always fought his plans. “We just can’t be stupid when we do.”

 

“Well then what are we waiting for then?” Ethel asked.

 

“We need to see what exactly they’re doing,” Tom Keller said, annoyed by the teenagers’ impulsiveness.

 

“I say we find out where they hide their drugs and blow it up,” Hermione says, sitting her daughter down. Veronica nods in agreement.

 

“That’s not the worst idea I’ve heard,” Sierra McCoy says, sipping her beer. “They’ve done worse to us.”

 

“I don’t see why we can’t,” Fred says. Slowly, thinking it over “But that has to be last resort.”

 

“In case of what? I haven’t heard any brilliant ideas from you yet.” Sierra says, clearly impatient.

 

“It would be better to destroy them slowly,” ‘Killer’ Tom Keller speaks up.

 

“Why?” 

 

“Because if the police get involved, our hands will be less dirty and they’ll be locked up longer. We gotta make them slip up.”

 

“This is bullshit!” Veronica said. “All this planning is bullshit! Let’s go teach these assholes a lesson now.”

 

“Hermione, control her.” Killer Keller says.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“ _ Mija, _ we’ve been doing this a long time. Let the adults deal with it.” Hermione said aggravated. 

 

“Like you’ve dealt with them for years? How well has that gone for you again? Let us deal with them.”

 

“What’s the point of being here if we don’t get a say?” Jason speaks up. The teenagers were getting upset. Veronica felt a tad bad for riling them up but she needed to prove her point. She didn’t know why the adults wouldn’t let them do anything or more importantly, why  _ they _ weren’t doing anything. Fred’s own son was arrested because of them. She was stabbed because of them. Her own father  _ willingly _ added time to his sentence to kill the man who hurt her. Veronica was not going to let those Vamps ruin her loved ones’ lives anymore than they already have. 

 

“You get a  _ say _ when you’ve  _ earned _ your voice.” Hermione growls, her face close to Jason. He visibly tenses with fear. “That goes for all of you!”

 

The room erupted into a small argument between the older and younger generations. Throughout all of this Fred stayed silent, listening to each side of the argument. Fred then speaks up, breaking his silence. 

 

“You kids want in? Fine, here’s the plan. Vixens, hang around the Vamps at school. Hell, throw a party. Alcohol will loosen their lips and you collect the secrets they spill. Find out who they sell to and sell to them instead.”

 

“What about us?” Archie speaks up for the first time, his boys nodding behind him.

 

“Archie, Jason, Reggie, heck all you Bulldogs,” The boys stand at the call of their names. “I want you to start driving around their turf.  _ Don’t  _ start anything just look around. Any places they hang around more often than others, I want you to start selling at. Figure out where they hide their stuff. The adults will take care of everything else. Is that to everyone’s satisfaction?”

 

No one dared to protest. 

 

“Good,” He took a beer and drank. “Why can’t we ever have a good meeting?” 

 

Hermione let go of Veronica who sat back down, satisfied she got what she wanted but still annoyed they weren’t going to take direct action. But she had to obey Fred’s orders.

 

“You’re not gonna do a damn thing before asking me,” Fred told her as he walked past. Veronica nods obediently. 

 

“You are getting more and more out of control,” Hermione says handing Veronica, Cheryl, and Jason each a beer. “I know you guys have real good reasons for wanting them all dead but you don’t live to be as old as me by being reckless. I want you to know that.”

 

The teens nod and accept their drink. Fred calls Hermione and the rest of the adults to come over leaving the teens to walk over to Archie and the rest of the Bulldogs.

 

“Are we just gonna sit here and let them walk all over us?” Reggie asked, clearly unhappy with the plan.

 

“The adults said they’re handling it,” Veronica said.

 

“It’s been two minutes- how have you changed your mind already?”

 

“Trust me, I’d be more than happy to go over there and bash some Vamp brains but they’re right. They’ve lived long enough because they  _ aren’t  _ reckless.” Veronica said. “And this is the most we’ve ever done for them. If we do what we’re told they’ll let us do more.”

 

“I  _ would _ like to live to see my next birthday,” Ethel said and Midge nods in agreement. 

 

“And you guys can’t have any more injuries. I mean, you guys barely recovered after your last fight.” Kevin reminded them and Veronica rubbed her wound. Cheryl looks paler than usual and Jason pulls her in for a side hug. Veronica rests her hand on her arm to rub small circles. 

 

Archie leaned in with a hushed whisper, “If they don’t do anything, we’ll have to handle it ourselves.”

 

Everyone nods and sneaks a look at the adults, all huddled into the corner hanging on Fred’s every word. Veronica wishes she were a part of the group. She wants to be a part of the people who kill those trash monsters for hurting her friends.

 

Later, when Hermione and Veronica go back to their trailer, Hermione sits her daughter in the kitchen.

 

“I know it’s hard,” Hermione tells her softly. “But you need to trust us. I love you but if your recklessness gets you into trouble there’s only so much I can do to help you. You are the last truly good thing in my life and I cannot bear to lose you. Everyone else feels the same way. I want you to stay as good as you can for as long as you can. If you run into things because you feel you need to prove yourself as the big bad wolf, you will die. And I will not stand for that.” 

 

Veronica nods, knowing her mom would be a wreck if she ever died. She loves her mom too much to put her mom through that.

 

“As much as it pains me to say, you’re right,” Veronica sighs, suppressing her tears. “Everyone else isn’t happy, myself included, but I agree. But you guys better move fast or else they’ll get antsy. We all want them dead for what they did to us.”

 

Hermione rolled her eyes. She didn’t care about the younger members’ opinions. She only cared if they were all alive. “You guys are young and impatient. You’ll survive.” She glanced at the clock. “I got another shift at Cerberus tonight so I’m gonna shower. Order a pizza and do something fun later.” She said standing up. “I’m tired of you hanging around me when I work.”

 

“What topping?”

 

“Anything with vegetables, we’re not eating enough.” Hermione answers.

 

“Got it chief,” she says with a mock salute.

 

Later, when the pizza is finished and her mom is long gone, Veronica scrolls through her contacts. None of the Bulldogs or Vixens answer her booty calls but Cheryl is the only one to respond.

 

To: Little Red

Come see a movie with me 

 

From: Little Red

No the drive ins playing trash 2nite

 

From: Little Red

And JJ wants me to come w/ him to CC

 

Veronica raises a brow and frowns. Central City is the heart of the Vamp operations. The Blossom twins had few good memories about Central City and even fewer with the Vamps. The Vamps also don’t forgive easily so the two of them walking into their den would be like waiting for dynamite to go off. She quickly texts back.

 

To: Little Red

They’re starting tonight?

 

From: Little Red

Yea

 

From: Little Red

Vamps r more active @nite and don’t hang around their den

 

From: Little Red

  * They won’t recognize us @nite



 

To: Little Red

Then let’s start planning parties. I’m thinking we crash some of their parties and host our own later?

 

To: Little Red

Maybe play nice with some of them

 

To: Little Red

You’re chem partners with their leader right?

 

From: Little Red

When he comes to class

 

From: Little Red

Listen we’re starting to head over. Ill text ya l8r

 

Veronica fell back against her bed. Now that Cheryl, and the Bulldogs were out of the picture she had to text her Vixens. 

 

To: Vixens

Ronnie: Let’s start planning tonight

 

But no one answered.  Veronica threw her phone to the side and closed her eyes, willing herself to go to sleep. Then she received a text twenty minutes later.

 

To Vixens:

Little Red: I have some news

 

Little Red: So I went w/ the bulldogs and we found a few customers of the vamps

 

Little Red: You’ll never guess

 

Ethel: Who?

 

Knives: Who?

 

Little Red: A bunch of northsiders 

 

Knives: H

 

Knives: O

 

Knives: L

 

Knives: Y

 

Knives: C

 

Knives: O

 

Knives: W

 

Knives: R we rlly that surprised tho??

 

Ronnie: They’ve got money and power, something the vamps really need.

 

Ronnie: Do you know who they are? We can sell to them instead.

 

Ethel: But how we gonna meet with them????

 

Ethel: They’re gonna wanna stick to what they know

 

Veronica: Well I guess we’ll have to find a way to convince them

 

Veronica pursed her lips and thought it over. She thought of many ways to get to the Northsiders but only one felt possible. It was with a heavy heart she sent Cheryl a private text.

 

To: Little Red

You think your girl can get us into any parties?

 

Veronica watched the grey dots appear and disappear for ten long minutes until finally getting an answer.

 

From: Little Red

I don’t wanna involve her. 

 

From: Little Red

She really likes me.

 

Veronica raises her brows at the proper punctuation.  _ ‘Red’s serious about this girl,’ _ she thought but shook away the feeling. It was the Northsider’s fault for catching feelings too easily. Granted, Toni had a point falling for Cheryl cause who hasn’t but Veronica has to put aside feelings of love. She has a duty to her gang to do whatever necessary.

 

To: Little Red

I think she got involved the minute you two started being a thing.

 

From: Little Red

Don’t drag her into this

 

From: Little Red

Please. 

 

To: Little Red

It might be the the only chance though. Once the Vamps are away the two of you can be the happy couple. 

 

To: Little Red

Hell, you don’t even need to tell her what’s going on.

 

To: Little Red

She just needs to tell us where we can party

 

To: Little Red

She’ll be under Vixen protection. So will all her friends.

 

To: Little Red

If it makes you feel any better you know our drugs are pure. The more she gets away from that Vamp shit, the better off she’ll be.

 

Veronica sends it before she has time to think if it was a good idea or not. Regret builds inside of her but she pushes it back down.  _ ‘This is for the greater good,’  _  she convinces herself. With one last glimpse of hope she sends another text.

 

To: Little Red

Please this could be our only chance.

 

Veronica watches her phone until it dims. Cheryl clearly read the message but she isn’t going to answer. It’s a tall order but Veronica is willing to risk it. ‘ _ For the good of the gang _ ,’ she reminds herself, repeating it like a mantra. 

 

The phone turned itself off and Veronica wonders how upset Cheryl would be if she went behind her back. Thankfully it doesn’t come to that as Cheryl’s message lights up the screen.

 

From: Little Red

Just as long as she doesn’t get hurt.

 

To: Little Red

I swear on my oath as your leader and best friend, Toni won’t be harmed.

 

As the message is sent, Veronica can feel her stomach sinking. It’s a big promised, one promise she can’t be sure to keep. If in any way Toni got hurt, it would take more than a milkshake and a note on a napkin to fix it.

 

From: Little Red

I’ll talk 2 her tomorow. 

 

Veronica let out a breath of relief.

 

\----

 

“Hey guys,” Toni greeted, far too perky for a Tuesday morning in Sweet Pea’s opinion.

 

“Hey Toni,” Fangs greets her, munching on his bagel. “You ready for the quiz in Hunter’s?”

 

“Been studying all week,” Toni says brightly. “Anyway what are you guys doing this weekend?”

 

“Same old, practice in the morning and napping all day.” Sweet Pea says backing the car out. “Why’d you ask?”

 

“I was thinking about throwing a party, inviting the whole school.” Toni wiggles her brows and Sweet Pea nearly crashes the car. Toni had the nicest house between the three of them but she never showed it off. She wasn’t as wealthy as say Joaquin but she was certainly more well off than the other kids in town. Her grandfather fought in the war, then inherited some cash from his first wife (not Toni’s grandmother) which he used to preserve Riverdale’s historical landmarks. The money earned from tours and such went to refurbishing the house so it was more modern than the rest of the houses in the aging neighborhood. In addition her uncle, a real estate mogul living in Philadelphia, used his connections to also renovate his childhood home.

 

“Are you serious?” Fangs exclaims, dropping his bagel. 

 

“Yeah,” She nods. “Grandpa’s going out of town and giving me full rein of the house. You guys just need to get the word out.”

 

“Hell yeah we’re gonna tell people!” Sweet Pea says, barely hiding his excitement. The usual Riverdale parties are either held at his house or at Malachai’s house. Both places were cramped and left Sweet Pea in charge of cleaning up. He was happy to let Toni take the spotlight.

 

“Sweet,” Toni glances at the clock. “We’d better get going though, we’re gonna be late for homeroom. I’ll text the squad.”

 

The news left Sweet Pea in a good mood the rest of the short week. His mood didn’t even falter when he got his quiz for History back (he got a C-). Even his  _ Laolao _ commented on his mood.

 

“You’re happy,” She said giving him a side eye. “What are you excited about?”

 

“Toni’s throwing a party tomorrow,” He told her honestly. She nodded in understanding. 

 

“That’s good, I’m glad you’re gonna have fun. “ She pointed her fork at him. “No after parties here. I’m tired of this house being a mess.” 

 

“I clean!” Sweet Pea said, insulted.

 

“Hardly,” His grandmother rolled her eyes. “Picking up a napkin then taking a four hour nap is hardly the same as ‘cleaning up.’”

 

Sweet Pea sputtered. “That hurts,” He held his chest as if wounded. 

 

“Truth hurts,” She smiled, taking a bit of her spaghetti. Sweet Pea laughs at her retort. 

 

“Speaking of chores,” She says. “Can you come with me to Greendale on Sunday? We’re running low on rice.”

 

“Only if I can get black bean buns.” Sweet Pea says with a smile.

 

“ _ Ai ya _ , you need to cut back on all the food. Between going to Pop’s everyday, and those buns you’ll inflate like a balloon.”

 

He let out a dramatic gasp. “I can’t believe you’d say that. You’re the one feeding me all the time!”

 

She smiled and rolled her eyes. “You are so dramatic. But eat all the black buns you’d like. You’re looking a little thin.”

  
  
  


The next day Sweet Pea woke with a loud groan. He preferred morning practices to afternoon ones but he still hated getting up early for them. 

 

Sweet Pea drags himself to the kitchen to pour himself some coffee. His  _ laolao _ is there leaning against the counter. “I’ll drive to let you nap on the way to Greendale,” She took a sip of orange juice. “But you’re driving us back.”

 

“Sounds good to me,” Sweet Pea yawned. “See you later gran.”

 

Toni and Fangs were already waiting for him next to his car both looking as tired as they felt.

 

“I’m taking a nap before your party,” Fangs yawned.

 

“I’m doing the same thing. SP,” Toni points to her tall friend. “You’re in charge of waking us up.”

 

Sweet Pea rolled his eyes. “Like either of you would wake up when I told you to.”

 

\----

 

Veronica is wiping the bar counter down when Fred approaches her. 

 

“Ronnie, there’s some business in Greendale we need you to do.” Fred told her. “Look for a Zelda Spellman. She’s got some info and drugs we need.”

 

“On it boss,” Veronica chose to ignore that the two of them could text each other the information in favor of finally being trusted to go on a drug run- by herself nonetheless!

 

“Go through the back door. Don’t bring the whole gang with you,” Fred warns. He looks at her outfit. “And  _ don’t _ draw attention.”

 

Veronica nods obediently. The people of Greendale, like the North Side of Riverdale, favors the fifties aesthetic. If her motorcycle wouldn’t make each police officer turn her way, her tye-dye purple crop top over a fishnet shirt and studded belt definitely would. Rather than grabbing her leather Vixen jacket, she grabbed a plain jacket instead.

 

Greendale isn’t a far drive but Veronica enjoys it nonetheless. She chooses the scenic route, inhaling the familiar scent of the Riverdale maple trees that fade into the new aroma of the Greendale hazel and oak trees. The early morning rain turned into a mist and Veronica felt like she was crossing the border into a different world.

 

It doesn’t take long for her to reach the Spellman residence. She parked beside a sleek black car and walked to the door, giving it a polite knock. She had been to the Spellman residence before. A few times actually. The home had a very haunting feel, like each piece of the house held a dark secret she was too scared to discover. But she was young when she last visited the house. She wasn’t going to be scared off.

 

A tall woman who resembled the Blossom twins answered the door. She looked down at Veronica as if she were determining if she were worthy of stepping foot on her property.

 

“Are you Zelda Spellman?” Veronica asks.

 

“Yes,” She take a drag of her cigarette and releases the smoke in such a way that is too elegant to be associated with the Wolves. “Are you here for the Wolves?”

 

“Yes, I’m a Vixen.” Zelda nods and leads Veronica inside. The house hasn’t changed since Veronica was here last. The same uneasy feeling sinks into her bones but unlike when she was younger, Veronica will not be scared off.

 

Veronica is led to the basement, a blindingly white and sterile place. She blinked, adjusting to the contrast of the rest of the house. A tall boy, who Veronica would have found handsome if not for his rubber apron and gloves, is leaning against a filing cabinet in the corner and a shorter, less threatening looking woman, Hilda the youngest Spellman if Veronica had to guess, was sitting behind a desk.

 

The uneasy feeling inflamed her bones. “Where is the package?” She said, replacing her fear with a cool tone. Was Fred punishing her for something? He knew she couldn’t help but speak her mind sometimes but was the meeting the last time he was going to stand for it?

 

“Right here,” Zelda said, handing her a binder. Veronica flipped through it to see Lisa Frank-esque pictures cut into individual squares. At the end of it was a pencil case with small baggies filled with small pink and blue pills. 

 

“No Jingle Jangle?” She asked, flipping to see if she missed the pixie sticks.

 

“That’s what I need you to tell Fred. The Sugarman has decided to sell  _ exclusively _ to the Vamps now. In return, the Vamps have stretched their usual street corners to the North Side of Riverdale and the Greendale’s high school.” Zelda’s voice is soft and cold and that makes Veronica more afraid than if she had raised her voice.

 

It is nothing however compared to the fear Veronica feels when her sister starts talking.

 

“The Vamps are a plague to this town and I want them eradicated. I don’t care how it’s done but I want it done. Or I will rain down a hell onto your entire gang that even all those smuggled guns you keep hidden in the floorboards of that pathetic shack you call a bar will not keep you safe. Tell Fred this.”

 

Veronica tried not to let her shock show. First of all, how did anyone outside of the Wolf family know about the floorboards in the Cerbeus? The Spellmans may have bought some from them before but that is no reason why they would know about this.

“Of course,” Veronica says with a smile. “Pleasure doing business.”

 

“The pleasure is all ours, sweetheart.” Hilda says as Veronica leaves.

 

She takes deep breaths once she reaches her She needed some food to deal with this. She hops on her bike and drives to the Asian Supermarket. She loved spending time with Reggie and his mom, even picking up a little Korean and Mandarin while eating Pocky. She needs some Pocky right now. When she pulls into the parking lot she sees an elderly woman with her hands full of groceries. She runs to help her.

 

“Oh let me help you with that miss.” Veronica holds the door for the old lady. “Don’t you have someone to carry that for you?”

 

“I’m old not weak darling. I could knock you to the ground if I wanted to.”

 

“I’m not saying you couldn’t but why don’t I carry something for you? Here give me this,” She reached over and grabbed the box on the top as well as the bread. “There isn’t that better?”

 

“Thank you dear,” She said. “My grandson was supposed to be out here but I think he might have forgotten where the car is.”

 

Veronica laughed. “Boys, am I right?”

 

The old lady laughed kindly. “I wish my grandson was as witty as you. He’s sweet but he’s not witty. Alas, maybe it’s just the Riverdale boys.”

 

“Oh, you’re from Riverdale?” Veronica questions. “Why do you come to Greendale?”

 

“There are no Asian markets there,” The old lady shakes her head.

 

“Yeah, there’s way too many white people. I wish they had a Brazilian restaurant or something.” Veronica said. “I’ve tried getting everyone to listen to me but they think the Taco Bell is fine.”

 

Veronica makes gagging noises and the old lady laughs.

 

“You’d get along with my grandson,” The old lady says looking at her. “He wants to set up a restaurant with real Chinese food.”

 

A car pulls up and in the driver seat is Sweet Pea, shocked to see Veronica nodding along with whatever his tiny grandmother was saying as they stood next to each other. 

 

“Wesley! You made me wait,” His  _ laolao _ chastised. “You’re lucky this nice girl was here to help or I would have dropped the buns all over the floor.”

 

Sweet Pea got out and took the groceries from her. “Sorry,  _ laolao  _ I forgot where we parked.”

 

Veronica laughed as  _ Laolao _ gave her a look. “You’re lucky this nice girl was here to help me with the groceries.” Sweet Pea’s grandmother scolded.

 

“ _ Nice _ girl?” Sweet Pea asked a little bewildered. He didn’t know how his grandmother failed to see that Veronica is a proud Vixen. But he wasn’t going to say anything unkind in front of his grandmother.

 

Veronica waved the compliment away. “It was no problem, I was happy to help. I’ll count it as my good deed for the day. Well I must be going, I hope I’ll see you again ma’am. Wesley.” She nodded to both of them, gave a flirtatious smile to Sweet Pea, and walked into the store.

 

“Quit drooling,” Sweet Pea’s grandmother smacked his arm playfully.

 

“I wasn’t!” He defended but his grandmother laughed at him. 

 

“I’ve seen that look in your eye before, you can’t fool me.” She said getting into the passenger seat. “Now come, you wanna help set up for Toni’s party don’t you?”

  
“Yes  _ laolao, _ ” Sweet Pea says, starting the car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case I never talked about this before, Sweet Pea is half Chinese like his actor so that will come up since I am Asian and will not shut up about that. Reggie is a quarter Korean and Chinese- Malaysian and a little bit of Cherokee. I've decided to make him both Korean and Chinese like both of his actors but if you'd prefer Ross over Charles or vice versa think of him like their respective ethnicities. Both of them are also half white. Veronica is Brazilian and Mexican because Camila Mendes is Brazilian while the actors playing her parents are both half Mexican.
> 
> Hazel and oak are trees associated with European witchcraft so I made them native to Greendale. I don't know if the Spellman family are witches or if they're coming back so leave a comment to determine that. I didn't finish Sabrina either but I might because Prudence and Agatha are hot.
> 
> The reason this chapter is late is because I have midterms so I didn't get everything done. The next chapter will be updated around the 13th which should be enough time to edit and everything. Jealous Sweet Pea will be there waiting patiently. But I will come up with another chapter.
> 
> However in the event I never update again, know I have been abducted and brainwashed by Scientologists (don't ask, college is a wild ride) and I'm sorry I didn't finish it. On the plus side, Marisol Nichols is a Scientologist so it can't be entirely horrible.
> 
> Thanks for your comments and kudos!


	6. The Longer They Wait the Better They Like It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni throws a party, the Southside 'crash' it, and Sweet Pea is jealous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for recreational drug use, underaged drinking, implied sexual content, and jealousy.

On the drive back to Riverdale, Sweet Pea’s grandmother falls asleep giving him time to think. Specifically about Ronnie Lodge. From what he could tell from their very limited interactions was that she found him cute. Or at least, easy to tease. He hated how she knew exactly how to push his buttons. But she was cute so he gave her a pass on being annoying. Shame she was cute though. If she were single and not in a gang he would definitely have a crush on her. But she is in a gang, a relationship, and Sweet Pea doesn’t want trouble so he doesn’t have a crush on her. But he doesn’t. Cause that would be ridiculous.

 

After helping his grandmother carry the groceries, Sweet Pea heads to Toni’s house. When Sweet Pea walks in, everybody is already setting up for the party.

 

“Nice of you to join us,” Jughead says, walking past him with an armful of red solo cups.

 

“Yeah well I had to run some errands for my gran,” He replied, following him. “What can I do?”

 

Joaquin chooses that moment to walk in. “Use those football muscles and help bring these kegs into the garage. Fangs already brought one in.”

 

“How much did you get?” Sweet Pea asks after him. He gets his answer when he sees the back of his truck has two more keggers in addition to the one Fangs brought in. “Jesus dude. Toni’s okay with this?”

 

“Yeah,” Joaquin replies passing over one keg to the taller boy. “I mean, she just said bring alcohol.”

 

“What are you gonna do when the party’s over and we’ve got three kegs left?” Sweet Pea says holding the barrel close to his chest.

 

“Save it for next time?” Joaquin shrugs. “Besides, tons of people are coming. I think some people in Greendale heard about it too.”

 

“Welp, time to tell Toni I’m not gonna help with cleanup.” Sweet Pea says jokingly, putting the keg down.

 

“Wasn’t gonna ask you anyway,” Toni says walking in with some cups. “You’re the least clean person I’ve ever met.”

 

“Okay, but has anyone been inside Fangs’s room? It’s worse than mine.”

 

“Nah dude, you’re worse than me.” Fangs says sitting on the countertop eating a Twizzler.

 

Sweet Pea throws a playful punch which Fangs gives him in return and the two of them start play fighting in Toni’s kitchen.

 

“Guys, come on.” Jughead says standing next to Toni. Both boys look up from their play fighting (Sweet Pea in a headlock and Fangs on the floor) to see Toni dressed up. She had on a short, pale pink shift dress and a matching choker. It was a far cry from her usual jeans and cardigans.

 

“Damn Topaz who you trying to impress?” Fangs lets out a low whistle. Sweet Pea raises his head, pretending to be curious.

 

Toni puts her hand on her hip and rolls her eyes. “Nobody you know.”

 

The boys laugh and pull apart from each other. Fangs takes back his seat on the counter and Sweet Pea leans against it.

 

“So when’s everybody coming?” Jughead asks, taking a sip out of his red solo cup.

 

“In like half an hour,” Toni says looking at the clock. 

 

It actually takes fifteen minutes for the first guest to arrive and another five for the party to start. Fangs has been pulled into a dark (but not private) corner by Joaquin, Jughead is in another corner people watching and drinking, Toni is dancing and dodging wandering hands, and Sweet Pea is making use of Joaquin’s kegs. The music is loud enough that he can feel the vibrations through the floor and Sweet Pea is having the time of his life. However, ninety minutes into the party and the amount of beer Sweet Pea drank isn’t enough to blur his vision. He can clearly see a group of kids enter the house. No one else notices, too busy having fun, to notice that the kids are Southsiders. None of them have their jackets on but their tattoos are enough evidence. 

 

Two tall red head guys are in the front with tattoos and dark eyes. The one on the right has his Wolf tattoo on his tan left bicep and a sleeve of flames going up to his neck. Sweet Pea is pretty sure that guy is Ronnie Lodge’s boyfriend. But her boyfriend could also be the boy on the left, a leaner, paler guy with a rose tattoo on his left shoulder and his wolf tattoo on his left bicep. There are a few other guys in their group but Sweet Pea doesn’t recognize any of their faces.

 

The boys move and Ronnie and Toni’s girlfriend, Little Red are there. Ronnie is dressed for a party- she wears a dark blue crop top and high waisted dark blue shorts held by criss-crosses on the her side. When she turns to whisper something in Little Red’s ear, Sweet Pea can see the curve of her ass. Little Red nods at whatever Ronnie is saying, her red curls bouncing as she does. She’s dressed equally as nice. In a red halter romper that shows off her long legs, she’s turning everyone’s head. When Veronica pulls away from Little Red’s side, he can see a rose tattoo on her right shoulder blade similar to the other boy. Sweet Pea wonders if they’re siblings. There are more Southsiders but Sweet Pea’s eyes are on Ronnie Lodge the whole time. He excuses himself from the beer pong game and tries to follow Ronnie. 

 

The Vixen heads straight to the dance floor first, first dancing with Cheryl before moving on to dance with her red headed studs for the evening. She’s way too close to either of them for his liking. She is graceful, Sweet Pea will give her than. Despite the trashy pop song, her moves are as fluid as the water. The muscular Bulldog leans over and from where Sweet Pea is standing, it looks like he’s kissing her neck. Sweet Pea narrows his eyes and presses his lips into a thin line. Once he releases her, Veronica grinds against the leaner boy. Muscles isn’t upset at this at all and by the time the song ends, he is laughing and pointing across the room. The two of them look in his direction and join in on the laughter. Sweet Pea can’t see who they’re laughing at but he assumes he doesn’t want to know. He leaves to grab another drink, unable to watch the three of them.

 

Once her dance partners leave her, Veronica tries to navigate through the party but between the forest of people and losing Cheryl, she feels lost. Across the way she can see Archie already found himself a girl to take him upstairs and she feels a sort of pride blossom in her chest. Poor guy hasn’t gotten any since before jail so it’s good that he’s getting out there. She turns around and to see Sweet Pea, turning pink once he sees that she’s caught him staring. ‘ _ Speaking of getting out there, _ ’ She walks towards the tall boy.

 

“Hi,” She greets him. “You wouldn’t happen to know where the drinks are would you?”

 

“Why are you here?” He asks a little hostile.

 

Veronica sighs. “I thought we were over this. I’m a strong, independent woman who likes to have fun, is that so bad? I heard from a friend your friend was having a party here.”

 

“I didn’t think you kept up with North side events.”

 

“Well not for elections or anything. But parties? Now there’s something to be involved in.” Veronica says with a low voice. “I like seeing how you Northsiders have fun.”

 

“Are you having fun?” Sweet Pea asks. “We’d  _ so  _ hate to disappoint.”

 

Veronica pretends to not hear his tone over the loud music.

 

“Not at first but now that I’ve found you…” Veronica trails off smirking at the football player.

 

To his credit, Sweet Pea doesn’t blush this time. He just looks away and rolls his eyes at the comment. His eyes catch sight of a red haired Wolf and he remembers his place. As tempting as being in her company is, Sweet Pea would like to end the party with as little injuries as possible. “Won’t your boyfriend take issue with that?”

 

Veronica gives him a look. “Boyfriend? Who do you think I’m dating?” 

 

“Uh, that red head with the wolf tattoo,” Sweet Pea responds. He can’t tell which one she’s dating considering she’s been all over both of them tonight. Maybe she’s screwing both of them. The thought shouldn’t be as upsetting and alluring as it is. “Saw you two being all lovey-dovey at the drive-on.”

 

Veronica searches her mind for that night. “Archie? No, he’s just a friend I haven’t seen in a long time.” She also think back to all the times Cheryl tried making her her sister-in-law through Jason. “But if you’re thinking of Baddie, he’s also just a friend.”

 

Instead of answering, Sweet Pea nods in understanding. A perverted part of Sweet Pea’s mind says,  _ “I wouldn’t mind being friends with you like that.”  _ The sober part of Sweet Pea’s mind squashes that thought right down. 

 

“Is that why you haven’t flirted back?” Veronica says, feeling bold. “Cause you thought I was taken? That’s so sweet of you. But now that you know that’s not true, I hope you can be a little less sweet with me.” She takes a step toward him.

 

“Hasn’t my attitude been sour enough?” He jokes, gripping his cup a little too hard. Even if she is single, she’s still dangerous. 

 

Veronica laughs. “It takes more than some insults to get me to lose interest.”

 

“Lucky me then,”

 

“Hopefully we both get lucky.”

 

Sweet Pea shakes his head and laughs. “Do you have an off button?”

 

“Can’t help it if you turn me on.” Veronica laughs at his expression. He’s so cute and easy to wind up. “Besides, nothing’s wrong with a little flirting,” Veronica responds. “You used to flirt with me, remember?”

 

She would like to think that she flirts with everyone like she does with Sweet Pea but she knows that’s not true. She flirts of course, but never to the extent that she does with Sweet Pea. She thinks it’s because she doesn’t know any other boys who blush as sweetly as he does or is as sly with his remarks. 

 

She won’t admit it aloud, but when she’s alone in her trailer she thinks of what it would be like if they weren’t from different sides of the track. If he were from the Southside, he’d probably be in a league with Jason and Archie. They would’ve had sloppy make out in the bathroom during fifth period and quick dates at the drive-in. He would’ve been like every other relationship Veronica had with a guy. Maybe they would get married if they made it past high school. If she was from the Northside she’d like to imagine she would’ve been a good girl. They give each other chaste kisses at her doorstep and hold hands during their study dates. Be childhood sweethearts with the same dream of going to school in a big city and settling down with their two children. But Veronica’s imagination always ran towards fast, rough,  _ amazing _ sex at the end of each scenario.

 

“I won’t deny that,” Sweet Pea admits. “You’re gorgeous and a little dangerous.” An intoxicating pair, Sweet Pea will admit. He also wonders if his alcohol tolerance has gone down because he would never tell her these things.

 

“Aww, that’s sweet of you to say.” Veronica eyes him up and down. The taller boy is a strange but seductive combination of a golden boy and James Dean that Veronica is curious to try.

 

“It’s hot in here,” She says. “Can we get some air?”

 

“Let’s go to the backyard,” He leads her to the backyard which has very few people. As far as Sweet Pea can tell it’s only the stoners cuddling together on Toni’s lawn. The sight makes his head shake as he plops down on the patio couch. Veronica sits next to him, watching a stoner describe what he thinks of the universe.

 

“Are all the kids at your school potheads?” Veronica asks, the wheels turning in her head.  _ “If I can just get a good idea of the Northside demographic…” _

 

“Nah, just those weirdos and the occasional party goer. I’ve done some stuff but nothing like that.”

 

Veronica smirked. “Oh like what? Zyrtec? 

 

“Piss off,” He says throwing a pillow at her. “Like jingle jangle and shit.”

 

“Jingle jangle?” Veronica repeats. She’s had some of that until the Sugarman started to only give it to the Vamps. A part of her misses it but she knows she’d rather die than touch Vamp merchandise. Getting high isn’t worth the rat poison she’d be putting in herself. “Who the hell gives you that?”

 

“Don’t sound so surprised,” Sweet Pea says.

 

Veronica smiles. She’s a little surprised he’d take that garbage but she’s always had a thing for idiots. “I’m not, I’m impressed. There’s some danger hidden behind that boy next door persona of yours.”

 

Sweet Pea laughs at the idea. “You want some? I think Malachai is selling some back inside.”

 

Veronica sees this as her chance to steer him away from that garbage. “Wait, I think I’ve got something better,” She reaches into her back pocket and pulls out a white pill with a blue heart. Sweet Pea doesn’t know why he’s surprised, all the Vixens are drug dealers. “You want some? It’s way better than that jingle jangle shit.”

 

“I’m not gonna take something I don’t know what it is.” Sweet Pea tells her, noticing the mischievous sparkle in her eyes. It’s not a dangerous sparke, just a mischievous one. 

 

“It’s called Mab. Named after that speech in that Leonardo diCaprio movie. It makes things feel a lot more in focus, sharper. More,” She stretches, searching for the best word and breathes out, “ _ Sensational. _ ”

 

Sweet Pea doesn’t know why he hesitates. Maybe it’s the way she says ‘sensational’ or maybe it’s the way the light falls on the soft curves of her face. He’s taken drugs before, it’s not a big deal. Heck, jingle jangle was fantastic and the guy he got it from was way sketchier than her. He knows he has no reason to say no but he still hesitates. 

 

“My ex used to love taking this stuff before we you know,” She gives a little smirk. “Maybe I’ll go find that ginger stallion later.”

 

“Hit me,” He growls.

 

Instead of giving it to him out right, she sticks it on the tip of her tongue. ‘ _ So that’s why her eyes sparkled like that, _ ’ Sweet Pea thinks, relieved. Ronnie raises her brow, waiting for him to make his move. He leans forward and is mere centimeters from her mouth when they are interrupted by giggling. Sweet Pea turns away almost immediately, embarrassed to be caught in such a position. Veronica readjusts herself as well and puts her legs on the space between their The two of them turn to see a red head and a short girl enter the room. Sweet Pea gets off of the Vixen and sits on the other side of the couch. 

 

“Oh sorry,” Toni says looking at the two of them. “Were you two?”

 

“No, uh not at all,” Sweet Pea says. “I’m gonna go grab a drink.” He goes back inside and leaves the three girls outside.

 

“Shit, I’m sorry Ronnie.” Toni says. “If it makes you feel any better, he definitely has a crush on you.”

 

The thought does not make Veronica feel better. There is a whirlwind of emotions going through her, each amplified by Queen Mab but the one that is most distinct is disgust. Guilt is a close second however. She felt disgusted with what she was going to do. But why was she feeling guilty now? She’s done this hundreds of times before. Even if he’s friends with Cheryl’s flavor of the week, she shouldn’t feel bad about what she was going to do. 

Veronica sighs.  _ “This is why you don’t get high on your own supply.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title is not poking fun of how I lied about not updating as soon as I said I would but I am sorry I didn't update the week I said I would. It's been a bit crazy between birthdays and midterms and tests and projects but I am back to drop off this chapter. I hope it was everything you hoped for and Jealous!Sweet Pea was jealous enough for you. 
> 
> I wanna post the next chapter in the middle of next month, after I get out of school but I make no promises. 
> 
> Please comment about your feelings and what you want next to happen (though I am going to introduce a certain dick weasel in the next chapter) or just tell me 'extra kudos'. It'll make me update faster I promise.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sweet Pea is jealous and confused and a little drunk. Jughead hates math and likes Nick St. Clair. Veronica worries about her best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally updated! After many months of not knowing how to portray a jealous Sweet Pea I have finally updated!

Sweet Pea doesn’t know if his ancestors are looking out for him or have it in for him. On one hand, it looked like Ronnie Lodge was wearing cherry chapstick and he wanted to make sure he was right. She didn’t even have a boyfriend for him to worry about. On the other hand, it was just confirmed he was going to kiss a drug dealer for her drugs. Well, he’s done drugs before so he wasn’t sure why _ this _ time he was feeling guilty. 

 

He pushes through the crowd until he reaches the kitchen where he treats himself to a beer. He leans against the counter watching the partygoers move around the room. He sees a familiar Vixen with cherry chapstick pass him. Behind her is her red haired friend- not her boyfriend Sweet Pea must remind himself- holding a red solo cup. Veronica is on the dance floor dancing with her friend, her grinding against him. She keeps her eyes focused on Sweet Pea, as if daring him to act. He can feel the tension in the air and responds to her unspoken dare. He spots a girl from the cheerleading team and invites her to dance. She is tall and pretty unlike Veronica who is petite and gorgeous. Sweet Pea never loses eye contact with Veronica as they stare at each other from across the floor. No matter how much the cheerleader twerks against his crotch or presses her chest against him a little too forcefully during a body roll, he never loses eye contact. He can see how Veronica grinds against the red haired boy with a certain precision, how she presses her breasts together as she runs her hands over her body, when she  _ kisses  _ her friend how her eyes never leave him. He won’t take that lying down so he kisses the cheerleader he’s with- something she returns enthusiastically but can’t fully enjoy because he’s so focused on Veronica. In fact, he is so focused on Veronica, Sweet Pea forgets the girl he’s kissing and the boy she’s kissing and believes they’re together instead. But the spell is broken when the song ends and his dance partner pulls him away. He loses her in the crowd but the last thing Sweet Pea can see of her is Veronica turning around and her ass getting grabbed. The sight is enough for him to want to leave. 

 

But he was raised to be a gentleman so he follows his cheerleader as she feeds him shot after shot. Eventually she tires of him and finds herself in the arms of another jock, leaving Sweet Pea alone and confused. 

 

 _“Why am I so jealous of her? I had a beautiful girl in my arms and yet I couldn’t take my eyes off_ Ronnie fucking Lodge. _Unbelievable,_ ” 

 

The loud music was not helping his confusion so he pushed past the crowd and out the front door. He slipped on a red solo cup someone left on the front steps but still sloppily walked away from the house. He pushed open his front door and stumbled up to his bedroom. Not even bothering to take off his shoes, he collapsed on top of his mattress and fell fast asleep. His grandmother could yell at him for his shoes tomorrow. Tonight, he needed to sleep off what he saw.

  
  
  
  


On Tuesday Sweet Pea swings by the Pembrooke for a study session with Jughead. With his used converse touching the pristine floors, it was easy to feel as though his presence devalued the property. But the employees were surprisingly nice to him. They directed him to the Jones residence personally. Sweet Pea knocked on the door.

 

A girl, possibly a middle schooler, with dark hair and a jumpsuit far too trendy to be from Riverdale answered the door. “Hi, you Jughead’s friend?”

 

“Yeah, we’ve got a test we’re studying for.”

 

“He mentioned. Come on in.” She opened the door wide. “I’m Jellybean by the way.”

 

“Nice to meet you,” Sweet Pea responded, untying his shoes.  _ ‘Jughead? Jellybean? Where do these nicknames come from?’ _

 

“Why are you taking your shoes off?” Jellybean asks, bewildered. “Just keep them on.”

 

Sweet Pea gives her an odd look but ties his shoes up anyway. Sweet Pea followed Jellybean into the kitchen where he saw Jughead and his father. 

 

Jughead stood up to introduce Sweet Pea. “Dad, this is Sweet Pea. We’re gonna be in my room doing homework.”

 

Sweet Pea extended his hand for a shake. FP Jones’s reputation preceded him. The man was a viper when it came to business, never accepting anything less than what he asked for and never negotiating. It was because of this reputation that many people suspected his wife took the fall for his misdeeds for him. “Sir,” 

 

“Don’t be so formal call me FP.” FP pushed Sweet Pea’s hand away and pulled him in for a bro hug. “You’re the linebacker for the Dragons right?” 

 

“Yep.” Sweet Pea said. Behind FP, Jughead rolled his eyes in annoyance.

 

“Nice, glad to see Jughead has a reason to go to games now.” FP smiled. “Now, I know the team is doing great and I want my son to see the Dragons finally win a game for the first time in ten years. But Pop’s would always give out hot dogs if you answered the trivia question. And,” FP slapped the back of Jughead’s back. “I want everyone to see how smart my boy is.”

 

Sweet Pea nodded in agreement, a smile on his face. “Yeah Pop’s is amazing for giving us all those hot dogs.”

 

“We’ll go to the next game then, but now we’ve gotta study.” Jughead said quickly, his face a bright red.

 

“The St. Clairs are coming tonight so make sure you’re done studying by then.” FP reminded his son as he dragged Sweet Pea to his room.

 

“Sure dad.” Jughead called back.

 

“Who are the St.Clairs?” Sweet Pea asked, a small smirk at how embarrassed Jughead looked. FP Jones was nothing like his reputation and Sweet Pea was all the more glad for it. 

 

“The St. Clairs are this big real estate company. I was friends with their son, you’d like him.” Jughead said pulling out his laptop. “Bit of an ass when you meet him but a nice guy all around.”

 

“Cool,” Sweet Pea said nonchalantly taking a seat at the desk.

  
  
  
  


About four hours into studying math, there is a knock on the door. The knock is followed by some greetings between the guests and FP.

 

“Might as well go say hello,” Jughead said, eager to take a break from his schoolwork.

 

“Yeah, we’re due for a break.” Sweet Pea checked his phone. “Actually I should be getting home.”

 

“Thanks for coming over.”

 

“No problem.” Sweet Pea said standing up. 

 

When the two left the room, they were greeted by the sight of three new people. An older white haired man in a suit, a short middle aged woman with a spray tan and fur coat, and a tall curly haired boy close to Sweet Pea’s age. The boy gave a bright grin when he saw Jughead.

 

“Jughead!”

 

“What’re you doing here?” Jughead asked giving his friend a bro-hug.

 

“Just hanging around,” Nick said “My dad is looking to develop some land so I figured I’d tag along. School sucks without you man.”

 

“You’re just upset I won’t be there to get you out of your stupid mistakes.”

 

Nick scoffed acting insulted at the remark. “And to check over my homework.”

 

“Sweet Pea, this is my friend Nick St. Clair.”

 

“Nice to meet you,” He held out his hand.

 

“Handshake?” Nick pulled Sweet Pea in for a bro hug. Sweet Pea was slow to react but hugged him back nonetheless. “Any friend of Jughead is a friend of mine.”

 

“Likewise.”

 

“How long are you staying?” Jughead asks.

 

“Until Sunday but we are coming back next weekend for that party thing they’ve planned.”

 

“Nice, so we’ll have plenty of time to catch up.”

 

“Of course, I haven’t seen you in forever and I want to know how much this hick town has changed you. No offense.” 

 

Sweet Pea eyed him but brushed it off. “None taken. I’d hate to cut this short but I gotta head back home. Jughead I’ll see you on Monday, Nick nice to meet you.” He walked out as the two old friends caught up with each other.

 

 

 

Veronica is sitting on Cheryl’s bed scrolling through her Instagram feed. Ginger, a Vamp, posted a pic of her new tattoo. It was a black triangle on her hip. It looked like the same place she once had a singular cherry blossom. Veronica looked up at Cheryl who was intently reading a book Toni lent her.

 

“Cheryl?” Veronica spoke up softly, using her friend’s real name. “Are you okay?”

 

“Huh, yeah,” Cheryl snapped her head up, clearly invested in her book. “Why?”

 

“Well,” Veronica took in a deep breath. “I know you’ve got a long history with the Vamps plus what they did to Archie, I wanna know if you’ll be okay fighting them. I don’t know what will happen but I know we might have a rumble on our hands.”

 

“Veronica,” Cheryl put her book down and looked her best friend in the eye. “Ever since Jason and I left our hag of a mother and those disgusting bloodsuckers I’ve wanted to see them burn. Taking away everything they have isn’t what I had in mind but it’s what I’ve always wanted. We have a family now.” She took Veronica’s hand. “And the Vamps are hurting our family. I can’t stand idly by and watch them kill another one of my family members.”

 

“Cheryl,” Veronica pulls her in for a hug. “I won’t let them hurt you or Jason. And if either one of you gets hurt I swear on my pearls I won’t let them get away with it.”

 

Veronica felt tears fall on her shoulder and held Cheryl tighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dance scene was inspired by Euphoria but rest assured this will not be a toxic relationship. I am doing everything in my power to prevent that. I don't know when the next time I'll update will be but I hope my muse visits me soon. Leave a comment and have a great day!


End file.
